The Winning Mindset
Interestingly, my experience is that a so-called ‘winning mindset’ is not so much about knowing how to win—all top athletes do—but rather about how well they manage and bounce back from loss. A practical example comes from my experience working with Gukesh D in preparation for the World Chess Championship final.
After five months of intensive preparation, he started with a bad loss in Game 1. He recovered to draw Game 2 and win Game 3. As pressure mounted toward the end of the championship, he lost again in Game 12 of 14. It was a crushing defeat, the kind that can unravel even the best.
But instead of dwelling on it, he accepted the result, extracted the lesson, pressed the mental reset button, and moved on fast. No overthinking. No excuses. Just back to the process. Two days later, he became the youngest World Chess Champion in history.
Some of what emerged as possible lessons include:
1. Prepare Both Skill and Mental Strategy
Chess is often framed as a battle of intellect, but the mindset behind the moves is just as crucial.
Gukesh prepared in a way that went beyond openings and endgames. He knew he would make great moves as well as mistakes. He would find himself in strong positions and in weak positions. He would win, and he would lose. He knew all these scenarios—and more—would play out over 50-plus hours of combat. He prepared and trained to accept whatever reality he faced—good or bad—to remain composed and still play his best move according to the board as it presented itself in front of him.
A winning mindset means preparing for both the best and the worst, accepting the current reality, and executing regardless.
2. Accept Failure Before It Arrives
When Gukesh lost Game 12 of the final, the scores were tied. The momentum could easily have swung in Ding Liren’s favor.
But he didn’t flinch.
He had already accepted that failure was inevitable at some point in the tournament. His goal wasn’t to avoid it but to respond better than his opponent when it happened.
Too many people in high-performance environments spend their energy fearing failure. The best plan for it. They fully accept it when it arrives. And without regret, blame, disappointment, or negativity, they continue to focus on the task.
3. Small Adjustments Can Lead to Big Wins
As the tournament dragged into its final days, fatigue became as much of a factor as skill.
One small adjustment made a difference:
Gukesh mentioned he was taking longer than usual to fall asleep, leaving him a little less rested the next day. We revisited his 15-point sleep hygiene plan and found one area for improvement—reducing his hotel room’s temperature from 24°C to 22°C. This minor change worked and left his mind and body fresh for when it mattered most.
High performance isn’t always about chasing massive breakthroughs. It’s often about regularly refining the small details that allow you to execute when it counts.
4. Stay in the Fight Longer Than Everyone Else
Game 14 was heading for a draw. Most players in his position would have accepted it, hoping to regroup for the tie-breaker.
Gukesh kept playing. He kept pressing. Not with a view to necessarily winning—which the computer suggested was highly unlikely—but to continue relentlessly mounting pressure on his opponent. Minute by minute, move by move. Throughout the 14 games spanning 18 days, he played the long game, pushing his opponent closer and closer to cracking under pressure.
And that’s exactly what happened.
Ding Liren made a critical blunder in the dying moments of Game 14, somewhere around the 55th hour of play. Gukesh pounced, securing the world title in classical play rather than leaving it to a rapid-chess decider.
The difference between winning and losing isn’t always a spectacular move. Sometimes, it’s just having the patience to wait for the other guy to break first.
Final Thought
Gukesh D didn’t win the World Chess Championship because he played his best-ever chess. That’s a common mistake first-time finalists make—trying to be better than their best because it was their biggest-ever moment.
Gukesh won because he played close to his best potential more consistently and for longer than his opponent.
He trusted his preparation. He accepted failure as part of the process. He focused on the tiny details that gave him an edge. And when the biggest moment of his life arrived, he didn’t try to be extraordinary—he just did what he had always done.
And that’s how he won.
