World number one Magnus Carlsen has lauded D Gukesh for making the most of his chances to be crowned the youngest-ever world chess champion but has ruled out the possibility of a title showdown with him as desired by the Indian teen. The 18-year-old defeated defending champion Ding Liren in the 14th and final round of the match on Thursday to become only the second Indian after Viswanathan Anand to claim the coveted trophy.
“It’s an incredible achievement (by Gukesh), first he was down in the FIDE circuit, won the tournament in Chennai on demand, then he had an amazing performance in the Candidates tournament,” said Carlsen on a popular recap stream, analysing the match.
Carlsen said he was a bit surprised by how the match unfolded with most of the games ending in draw.
“This was something that was bit unexpected, a lot of us thought that Gukesh was a favourite to win the match but this was a game that never really took off, Gukesh was doing a great job of keeping the position alive and suddenly it was all over,” Carlsen said.
“It’s a really good thing for him, he has the title now for two years, winning this championship is extremely motivating so there is a very good chance that he is going to go for a great run of results now and probably become the number two player now and may be number one in the not so distant future,” he noted.
In the post-event press conference, Gukesh stated that he would love to fight it out against Carlsen at some point. The Norwegian maverick decided not to defend his title in 2023 after winning the world championship in 2013.
“Winning World Chess Championship does not mean I am the best player, obviously that is Magnus Carlsen. I want to reach the level Magnus has achieved,” Gukesh said.
“Obviously playing against Magnus in the world championship would be amazing, it would be the toughest challenge there is in chess. It is up to Magnus, but I would love to test myself against the best player in the world.”
But Carlsen ruled that out. “I am not part of this circus anymore,” said Carlsen in a general reference to world title clashes.
Carlsen also praised Gukesh’s team and said they did a good job.
“It is becoming progressively harder (to play mainstream openings) all main lines are analysed so they had to jump a bit,” Carlsen said of the opening choices made by Gukesh.
“I have generally kept it fairly risk-free with the white pieces, I have tried not to let things go out of control,” he added.
The world’s best player for a decade now was critical of Liren’s choices in the final game.
“There are lot of things that Ding could have done differently, Gukesh really made most of his chances,” he said.
“It’s a massive moment for India, it’s a combination of work that is being done there. This is not over.
“There are many more success stories to come, it was really heartwarming to see what it means to Gukesh, it was a very beautiful moment,” Carlsen summed it up.
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