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Magnus Carlsen has said no young chess player is ready to dominate the sport like he did, including D Gukesh.
Magnus Carlsen believes D Gukesh isn’t ready to dominate Chess like he did (PTI Photo)
Magnus Carlsen, brutally honest as ever, said none of the upcoming generation of Chess players is ready to dominate and take over the sport like he did, just yet. He believes that though Indian sensation D Gukesh is ‘doing fantastic’, he and other young players are not at the ‘once-in-a-generation’ level that he was.
The 34-year-old World Number One was speaking after winning his seventh Norway Chess title, where he beat tough competition from three players under the age of 26 — Gukesh, Arjun Erigaisi and Wei Yi and two of his age group — Fabiano Caruana and Hikaru Nakamura.
“I feel like in at least parts of the game I’m still a lot better than the kids who are trying to take over,” Carlsen said, in an interview with Chess.com. “Fabi and Hikaru are still very, very good at what they do. I generally feel that I can outplay the kids, which feels good. There is no one at the moment. That’s the honest answer…I think Gukesh showed in this tournament that he’s on track. He’s doing fantastic. Maybe he’s not way ahead of track as we may have thought. I think he’s a bit like where I was in 2008-2009. He can do extremely well. The great results come not only with the quality of the positional play, but with a lot of fighting qualities.”
Carlsen said he doesn’t see any of the younger as the ‘clear number one’ of the future, because all of them have their flaws.
“But that’s how kids are supposed to be. You’re not supposed to master everything at that age. As for the others, they’re good but the likelihood of one of them becoming a clear number one, I don’t see very clearly. At the moment I think the older guys are better. They’re (younger guys) not ready to take over. Every single one of them has very clear flaws and that’s how it’s supposed to be at their age. Once-in-a-generation talents are once-in-a-generation talents for a reason – it’s not that easy,” he added.
Regret the moves I made more than gestures vs Gukesh: Carlsen
Carlsen also spoke about his uncharacteristically emotional response when he lost to Gukesh, for the first time in the classical format, in the tournament.
“I regret the moves I made more than the gestures I made in the moment (in the now viral video clip). History will at least still show that I won the tournament. People have got to realise that when I have those emotional reactions, the only person I’m upset at is myself. My reaction didn’t stop there. I was so out of it that I had to jump out of the car on the way back and take several minutes just to compose myself. It’s just honestly the pain of chess, especially classical,” he added.
A team of reporters, writers and editors brings you live updates, breaking news, opinions and photos from the wide world of sport. Follow @News18Sports
A team of reporters, writers and editors brings you live updates, breaking news, opinions and photos from the wide world of sport. Follow @News18Sports
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