Mental conditioning coach Paddy Upton praises Gukesh as one of the smartest and self-aware athletes

by Rasika Ratnaparkhi - 16/11/2024

The World Championship match is just around the corner and so many discussions have been going on about Ding Liren and Gukesh. The spotlight is on their mindset more than their match. With only 10 days left, everyone is curious to know how both the players are preparing to give their best. A few days ago, we got to know that Paddy Upton who is a well-known coach, speaker, author, podcaster, and professor is helping Gukesh to prepare mentally for the biggest challenge of his career. With so many hats to wear, he has worked with world-class athletes across more than 20 sports. During his conversation with Sagar Shah, Paddy revealed that Gukesh is one of the smartest, intellectual, and self-aware athletes which is very uncommon in young athletes. Read the interview to know more about Paddy’s role and his tips for all of us on how to become our best version. Photo: Gukesh's Instagram

The mind game behind the board

The World Championship match comes with huge mental challenges for both players. The pressure to perform at the highest level, the intense focus required, and the constant battle with nerves… all of these can be overwhelming. For players, it can be very difficult to stay calm while their every move will count. The ability to handle stress, stay mentally sharp, and block out distractions becomes just as important as the moves on the chessboard. Such tournaments are a test of your mental strength along with skills. To explore this topic, Sagar Shah spoke with Paddy Upton, an expert in mental conditioning who is currently helping Gukesh to prepare for the World Championship. Here is what he had to say:

Full interview with Paddy Upton by Sagar Shah

SS: Paddy, the first time I heard about you was when Vidit Gujrathi recently showed me your book ‘The Barefoot Coach’ which made a deep impression on him. I started reading a few pages and I really liked it! I was so surprised when the news broke out that you are working with Gukesh for his World Championship match. It’s like a crossover of two universes.

PU: Thank you very much for that. I wrote the book 3-4 years ago to share some of the best lessons I have learned from working with some of the best cricketers in the world. I have obviously done a lot of work in India and worked with Tendulkar, Dravid, and Kohli. It’s been awesome to spend time working with the Indian hockey team during their Olympic campaign earlier this year. It’s been fascinating to work in a few different sports, but as you said, probably one of the most interesting and unexpected experiences for me was to be working with Gukesh.

SS: Could you tell us about how did it happen?

PU: WACA reached out to me through the Olympic Gold Committee. They had heard about the work I had done with cricket, hockey, and also with P.V. Sindhu. They asked if I would be interested in supporting Gukesh in his World Championship campaign. Initially, I had never worked in chess and never considered it. Once I had my first introductory conversation with Gukesh, it was very quick to see how he is a grounded, humble, highly intelligent, and exciting individual to work with.

SS: He is actually going to play against Ding Liren, and the narrative that is widely discussed is how Ding is not in his best form, and how Gukesh is doing really well. Even Ding himself has acknowledged this in interviews. Isn’t it a tricky terrain to be walking on as a player?

PU: I think the trickiness of that terrain is believing those stories and preparing with those stories in mind. The temptation might be to cut corners in preparation, thinking this is a foregone conclusion, which is very dangerous. The reality is Ding is the World Champion because he played the kind of chess that got him to that position. He has the ability, on any given day, at any given moment, to refind and reconnect with that form. Gukesh is certainly not preparing with the mindset that he is going to meet an off-form Ding. His preparation is as perfect as it can be with the expectation that he meets an on-form Ding. If Ding plays at his best, Gukesh needs to be prepared to beat him at his best. That’s smart thinking, and anything else that happens would just be a bonus.

Gukesh shared about his experience on working with Paddy Upton | Photo: Gukesh's Instagram

SS: How has it been for you to interact with him? He is just 18 years old and I have always felt he is so mature.

PU: In my context, I have worked with many athletes across different sports. Most of the athletes I work with are in their early 20s to mid-30s. Gukesh is one of the youngest. I tend not to work with young athletes because they don’t have the maturity or self-awareness. In that regard, Gukesh would be without a doubt, the smartest, most intellectual, self-aware athlete.

SS: Chess players tend to prepare a lot on the board. Where do you see the mental work fitting in because not many of them focus on it?

PU: I would imagine a lot of them spend time preparing their opening moves because that’s what you can prepare for. It’s more difficult to prepare for the middle game and end game. It’s interesting to see the balance between the thinking, calculations, and distinctiveness during the game. The more they think deeply, the more time pressure they put themselves in. So for chess players, it’s a delicate balance between their real strength and sufficient time during the game.

SS: Interesting! How did you prepare yourself for this assignment? Because even if you have worked with many top athletes, the chess aspect might be different.

PU: Chess is the 20th sport I have worked in at the highest level. The principles of mental games like preparation, overthinking and underthinking, pressure, fear, confidence, doubts, and negative thoughts apply equally across all sports. They just apply differently with different personalities. I assumed those principles would translate into chess. When I first started with the Indian cricket team in 2008, I didn’t know much about India or the personalities involved. The only way to find out is to ask questions, pay attention, and listen. So, I certainly went into the conversation with Gukesh. I also listened to some podcasts of the best chess players. But I stated very openly that I didn’t know about chess and I wouldn’t learn it so that I could speak about it to Gukesh. I am going to talk about the mental game with Gukesh.

Secret of Gukesh's Mental Strength

SS: What makes chess completely different from all other sports you have worked in?

PU: Chess is all about the brain. The brain is the primary performance tool. All the other sports require speed, strength, agility, hand-eye coordination, or ball skills. When I am talking to Gukesh, I am talking about his primary performance tool whereas with all other sports, I am talking about the tool that supports the performance.

SS: One thing that has been spoken about Gukesh is that he is able to up his game at the right time. He is a ‘big match player’. Do you see something similar in him and other athletes?

PU: Yes. There is something gifted and unique to Gukesh. We have seen him delivering results in big games. He really does bring the best out in him during high-pressure moments. He is what we call a ‘big match temperament player’. In cricket, players like Virat Kohli have it. Most players crumble under pressure, but athletes like Kohli or Gukesh bring the best out of them in such moments. That’s why it’s awesome to work with people who understand how a big match temperament mind works, and how is it different from other people who suffer from anxiety, pressure, and fear of the big moment. Regardless of how well Ding plays, he will meet the best performance of Gukesh.

SS: Do you think this is something that can be developed, or is it a skill that someone has innately from a very young age?

PU: It’s a little bit of both. There is definitely something innate about it, but it can also be worked on. Talent is a gift that Gukesh has. We can certainly hone that gift, learn to use it more effectively and hold onto it for longer. For someone who doesn’t have a big match temperament, someone who crumbles under pressure or performs worse in big moments, you can definitely help them manage themselves, and their strategies better. But to turn someone who lacks big match temperament into someone like Virat Kohli or Gukesh, it’s possible, but I haven’t personally been able to do that.

Paddy has written a book called 'The Barefoot Coach' which talks about his experience of working with different athletes | Find the book here.

SS: I see that it is very important for chess players to detach themselves from the results. Everyone talks about don’t get attached to results and the ELO rating, but it’s so difficult to do that because all conversations keep happening around it. The invites are dependent on it. So, how to do that according to you?

PU: That saying in the sport about focusing on the process and letting the result look after itself means focusing on what is in front of you. Focus on the board that’s in front of you. Then you are fully focused. That’s when you get to play the best chess. The result always either exists in the future or the past. If we are focused on the future or past, that is a distraction, because we are not focusing on what is sitting in front of us now. It is probably the most powerful concept. If you really get it, digest it, and internalize it, that gives the best possible chance of having the desirable result happening. If we take that and expand it to life: Life is a journey, it’s not about the destination. It’s the same thing - focus on the journey. In fact, life is probably easier because the destination of life is death, and we don’t want to rush to that result.

SS: I realized in order to have this mindset, you need to be slightly detached from what you are doing, not only the results. And it’s not easy to do. What are your thoughts on that?

PU: If you are focused on the present moment, you are not detached: you are fully engaged and focused. It is our ego that attaches itself to results. Because in our ego, we want to look good, we want people to like us, we want to be right. If I did well in the past, my ego wants to talk about it and hang onto it because it makes me feel good and everyone loves me. If we do badly in the past, the ego is affronted, so it wants to try to defend itself or blame somebody else. It’s the same with the future. Ego is attached to doing well in the future because we want people to like us, we want people to say nice things, and we want to feel good. That’s the source of pressure.

The more important it is to achieve a good result, the more pressure we feel. But when you are secure within who you are as a human being - who we are in our essence, character, and esteem that is separate from ego. Detaching from my ego means being okay with who I am. When we are okay, then we are detaching from the ego’s attachment to losing. And when we are not desperate to win, we are detaching from the ego’s need to win. And then it frees us up to be fully focused on the process. It’s easy to say in this interview, but very difficult to do. Only the best players in the world get it right more often than others.

SS: This is something I have read in a book by Eckhart Tolle or some other spiritual books. Do you think that this is an important thing that sports players should look into?

PU: Sport is a part of life; it's not different from life. The rules, the guidelines, and the principles of living a really successful, fruitful life have been around forever. Whether it’s Eckhart Tolle, Buddha, Bhagavad Gita, the Quran, the Bible, or any of the modern-day spiritual gurus, they are all giving us guidelines for living life. And those guidelines apply 100% to sport. We just don’t do a very good job of translating what these scriptures or these principles mean, and how they play out in sports. It’s interesting that I haven’t come across too many athletes who do a good job. Even the really spiritual or religious athletes live a spiritual and religious life, and then they live a sporting life. They do a pretty poor job of translating what this means, and how do I translate it into sport?

Mental Game of Sport and Life | Video: Paddy Upton

SS: This is tremendous! This is going to open up the minds of many youngsters and chess players. Is there anything that you would recommend to them to get ready on this path?

PU: For me personally, as you mentioned Eckhart Tolle: his book ‘A New Earth’ is amazing. There is amazing insight and depth in that book. I know if I read it as an adolescent, I probably would not have understood it or thought it was rubbish. But I think the youngsters are far cleverer than we were when we were youngsters, that’s a good resource. I wrote my book to share this wisdom and translate it into its practical application in sports. But I would say, the thing I would say to every athlete is ‘Work on your sport’. Do everything you can to be the best player, focus on that. But spend an equal amount of time working on being the best human being you can be. As you work on your strategy in sports, work on your character. Work on your values. Understand what are your ethics. What are you going to say no to? What are you going to say yes to? We have goals in sports: What do I want to achieve? So, have goals in life as well: What kind of person do you want to be? What do you want people to be saying about me at my funeral? Understand the strategy? How do you need to live your life to be the best human being you can be? The more secure you are within yourself as a human being, the more you will be detached from your ego. Work on yourself as a person. Work on your sport. Your results will go up, and they will go down. People will love you when you do well, and people will criticize you when you do badly. That’s just their story for you.

Keep separating yourself from your results. You are not your results. Don’t chase winning too hard, and don’t run too hard from losing. Focus on being the best person and the best athlete you can be, and that’s focusing on the process.

SS: This is very inspiring. Thank you so much for sharing this knowledge with us! Would you ever be open to working with more chess players in the future?

PU: I am always open to working with interesting people doing interesting stuff in sports!

Paddy’s insights are not just for Gukesh, they are for all of us. Imagine focusing fully on the process, staying calm under pressure, and letting go of the fear of results. How much better could we perform in our own challenges? These lessons would definitely help us to stay grounded and true to who we are. It will be fascinating to see how these mental strategies help Gukesh at such a high-level tournament.