Magnus Carlsen predicts D Gukesh's World C'ship challenger: ‘He's still extremely good. There's no reason he couldn't'
Despite being the World No. 1, Magnus Carlsen pulled out of the previous FIDE World C'ship cycle. The Norwegian pulled out of the ongoing cycle too, and won't be attempting to challenge D Gukesh for the classical World Champion title. Carlsen is a five-time World Champion. Meanwhile, Gukesh became the youngest-ever World Champion last year, beating Ding Liren.
Since becoming World Champion, Gukesh has had a mixed bag of results. He was in dominant form at the Tata Masters, but a late dip in form saw him settle for second position. Meanwhile, his Freestyle Chess run has been poor, and his ongoing Norway Chess campaign has been topsy-turvy.
He began his campaign on a weak note, but then staged a comeback to beat Carlsen and Erigaisi. Carlsen had beaten him in the campaign opener, but then Gukesh managed to defeat him when they met again, and also got his first classical win against the veteran.
But then Gukesh's form stuttered as he lost to Hikaru Nakamura, with the American GM winning with ease.
Speaking to Take Take Take, Carlsen felt Nakamura stood a strong chance to defeat Gukesh, if he won the Candidates tournament. It is to be noted that the winner of the Candidates will challenge the World Champion.
'I think if Hikaru, Fabi, or probably Nepo for that matter win the candidates, at the moment they would be a favorite in a match against Gukesh. Hikaru's come close twice; he's still extremely good. There's no reason he couldn't,' he said.
Carlsen has been highly critical of Gukesh, after the Indian GM became World Champion. Carlsen criticised the qualify of the World C'ship, especially the nature of Liren's blunder in the decisive game. Carlsen's sentiments were echoed by Vladimir Kramnik too. Gukesh won the 2024 Candidates tournament to qualify for the World Championship.
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