D Gukesh under fire again! Chess legend Garry Kasparov: 'You can hardly call him the strongest player in the world'

Former world chess champion Garry Kasparov has shared his views on the current state of world chess championship during the Sinquefield Cup tournament's fifth round broadcast. On Friday, he specifically commented on Gukesh's recent world championship title.

Following Magnus Carlsen's departure from the world championship cycle in 2023, Ding Liren of China and Gukesh Dommaraju of India became the 17th and 18th world champions, respectively.

Gukesh made history by becoming the youngest world champion at age 18 when he defeated Ding in Singapore last year.



Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!

When discussing Gukesh's achievement as a teenage world champion, Kasparov said, "Gukesh won fair and square but you can hardly call him the strongest player in the world. I don't want to sound offensive, but I think Magnus ended the era of classical world champions. Gukesh's world championship title is very different. It's still clear that Magnus is the strongest and Gukesh is yet to prove his superiority over others. Even players of his age category. The round 1 game against Praggnanandhaa at the Sinquefield Cup was very unimpressive. The rules are the rules and the games are the games."

Kasparov later offered an apology while maintaining his stance.

"I'm sure there will be more excitement in the Candidates and the next world championship match. But I apologise. I have to apologise time and again. This is not exactly the title that I had or Karpov had or Fischer had or Magnus had."

These remarks came as Gukesh played to a draw against Polish grandmaster Jan-Krzysztof Duda, who had previously assisted him in becoming world champion.

Kasparov's perspective carries significant weight as he won the world championship title six times, including four victories against Anatoly Karpov, and wins over Nigel Short and Viswanathan Anand.

Alongside Bobby Fischer and Magnus Carlsen, Kasparov is often considered one of the greatest chess players in history. He briefly served as Carlsen's coach during the latter's early career.

Carlsen has frequently acknowledged Kasparov as the greatest chess player in the sport's history.

Catch Lovlina Borgohain's inspiring story on Game On, Episode 5. Watch Here