World No 1 Magnus Carlsen speaks about the upcoming Gukesh-Sindarov match and why an early lead could decide who wins

Published on: Sep 10, 2026, 21:56:21 IST

Prefer HTon Google

Share via
Copy link

Bengaluru: Fatherhood, Magnus Carlsen said, has made him certain that he will never return to play a classical World Championship match. He believes whoever takes the early lead in the upcoming Gukesh-Javokhir Sindarov match will be a significant favourite to win.

“I think the word defend is probably not a good place to begin, because in terms of how Gukesh has played for the last couple of years, he should not be in a position where he has to defend anything,” Carlsen told Indian media, when asked about defending champion Gukesh’s title bid, on Thursday soon after he defeated five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand (PBG Alaskan Knights) for the second time this season turning out for the Alpine APL Pipers in the Tech Mahindra Global Chess League. “He should be in a position where he has everything to gain. He has shown previously in 2024 that when things click, he has the potential to play at an extremely high level,” Carlsen added.

The world No 1 believes Gukesh should perhaps look at it as a challenge since a lot of people don’t see him as the guy who is likely to win the match. “Chess is a highly psychological game, so it probably won’t take a lot to potentially place some doubts in Sindarov’s mind and some confidence for Gukesh, but obviously, as it stands, there’s no question that Sindarov is the favourite.”

“Gukesh has shown that his ceiling is on par or better than Sindarov. It’s a short match, so the first few games can determine a lot. I think if Sindarov is ahead early on, it’s probably very, very bad news for Gukesh. If Gukesh is ahead early on, he automatically becomes a significant favourite.”

Asked if there has been the slightest change in his stance about playing the World Championship, the five-time world champion, who walked away from it after the 2021 match, said: “I think after I became a father it has made it even more certain for me that I was never coming back to the classical World Championship.”

“The thing about World Championship matches, and one of the reasons why I believe it’s an extraordinarily bad way to determine the best player in the world, is that you play classical, which is the most egalitarian format, and you don’t play a ton of games as well, which means that if you’re not the favourite, let’s say, if it’s 80-20 before the match, the likelihood is still very high that it’s going to be a 1 or 2 score match, because chess is such a draw-ish game.”

“To justify spending a ton of time on something that I genuinely dislike…Also, when there’s no competitive reason why I should, makes zero sense. There are other World Championship formats as well. Fifteen times world champion in rapid and blitz, that’s quite a lot more than everybody else.”

Calling himself a Praggnanandhaa fan, the five-time world champion said while the Indian has been on an impressive run lately, he is yet to pull away from the pack. “I think he still has a very good foundation in chess, but he plays in a very aggressive way. It’s been working out really well for him recently. I’m a fan.”

“I love watching his chess. He pushes very, very hard. He manages to put pressure on basically everybody, including myself. I think he’s still not at a point where he can say that he’s distanced himself from his peers. He’s not quite consistent enough for that, but he’s a tough, tough, tough class player for sure.”

A year into turning a father, Carlsen appears to be enjoying his fresh title. “My son is the greatest human being alive. It’s a joy every day. It’s a little bit sad to be away from him now, but I also have to provide for my family.”

At the moment, he points out that he’s taking his competitive chess career “a few years at a time.” “It’s hard to imagine me completely stepping away from competitive chess, as long as I’m pretty good at it.”

See Less