Chess legend Viswanathan Anand believes reigning world champion D Gukesh will recover from his recent form slump through patience and hard work. In an exclusive video interview with The Tribune to promote his new book ‘Lightning Kid: 64 Winning Lessons from the Boy Who Became Five-Time World Champion’, Anand shared his journey. He gave advice for young players and champions on handling setbacks.On D GukeshGukesh is a phenomenal worker. In my book, I discuss moments when, right after I became world champion about six months later, I had a kind of crisis in my chess. These moments have occurred to me over the years. You just have to be patient, keep doing your work, not expect that your work will produce the result because it’s always hard to time it. But you keep at it, keep trying to improve. And then one day your luck changes, your results change.While his results recently have slipped, this happens to many people. Slumps are a natural part of sport. If someone reads this book, it’s not that they’re going to find answers, but I’d like them to think, ah, Anand also faced the same situation. Let’s see how we dealt with it. That’s the kind of book we wrote. The 64 chapters make the takeaways easier to understand. These are life lessons you learn from life.How was he named Lightning Kid?I was very famous in the Culture Club. We played five-minute games. Two people would play. The winner could stay. The loser got up and got in the queue. This developed my habit of playing quite fast. A journalist called V Kameswaran, who founded the club, wrote an article for a newspaper. He loved coming up with funky nicknames for all and called me Lightning Kid. The name stuck.Role of his motherMy mother really played a very big role in my chess. She was very involved. She spent a lot of time and accompanied me everywhere. All those things made a big difference. Nice things happen to people who are trying all the time. My mother taught me chess and was always on the lookout for a good coach for me in Chennai. Then my father got an assignment in the Philippines, where chess was incredibly popular. Among the best players was Eugene Torre. To reach him, my mother grabbed a phone directory and just called all the Torres. This would be the equivalent of being in Brazil and just calling Pele. Finally, one Torre, his brother, answered and that’s how we connected to him.Role of parentsEvery parent has uncertainty about their child’s future. You want to encourage your child but don’t know what they will be good at or interested in. What I learned from my parents, and try with my son, is to give them every opportunity to be interested in something. Expose them to many things. But they have to decide what fascinates them. It’s a combination. You cannot just talk about discipline, hard work and focus. You must ensure they enjoy what they’re doing and respect that. If they want to do something, step back. It’s a delicate balancing act. You pass on tips but respect their decision.