Sindarov is the favourite but Gukesh has chances: Carlsen about World title match

Magnus Carlsen is fond of R. Praggnananandhaa. Even after the Chennai Grandmaster beat him twice at the recent Norway Chess tournament in the World No.1’s hometown, Oslo.

“I am a fan,” Carlsen said. “I love watching him. He plays in a very aggressive way. It has been working out really well for him recently, and I don’t think his approach has changed too much.”

The five-time World champion, who is in the city for the Tech Mahindra Global Chess League, likes the way Praggnanandhaa pushes his opponent hard. “He manages to put pressure on basically everybody, including myself,” Carlsen said. “He is still not at a point where he can say that he has distanced himself from his peers. He is not quite consistent enough for that.”

The world knows Carlsen isn’t as much a fan of the other Chennai prodigy, though he is the reigning World champion. He doesn’t feel it would be easy for D. Gukesh to defend his crown against Javokhir Sindarov in their World title match.

“The way Gukesh has played for the last couple of years, he should not be in a position where he has to defend anything and should rather be in a position where he has everything to gain,” Carlsen said. “Yes, he has shown previously in 2024 that he has, when things click, the potential to play at an extremely high level. I don’t think a lot of people believe that he will do it now.”

But he stressed that chess was a highly psychological game. “So, it probably won’t take a lot to potentially place some doubts in Sindarov’s mind and some confidence in Gukesh’s,” he said. “As it stands, there is no question that Sindarov is the favourite.”

Carlsen, however, feels that since chess is basically a drawish sport, and all one needed was a win or two in a World title match, Gukesh has chances. “He has shown that his ceiling is on par with, or better than, Sindarov,” he said. “If Sindarov is ahead early on, it is bad news for Gukesh. If Gukesh is ahead early on, he automatically becomes a significant favourite.”

Carlsen likes many things about the GCL. “The lack of increments is very good,” he said. “I would have preferred that there is no two seconds after 40 moves as well. I think that was implemented after the request of us players who are incompetent and lazy at times.”