Kolkata: Magnus Carlsen is a name that chess players and fans swear by because there’s nothing in the game that the 33-year-old from Norway has not achieved. He is a five-time World Chess Champion, the reigning five-time World Rapid Chess Champion, the reigning seven-time World Blitz Chess Champion, and the reigning Chess World Cup Champion.
He has held the No. 1st position in the FIDE world chess rankings since July 1, 2011 and his peak rating of 2882 is the highest in history. He has been so good for so long that eventually things got a little boring. He decided he didn’t want to defend the classical crown. It opened up an opportunity for others, one that India’s D Gukesh looks primed to cash in on.
Carlsen, however, believes that there is a lot more to chess than ratings and crowns. The Blitz and Rapid formats keep him entertained but at the same time, the World Championship Match between Ding Liren and Gukesh later this month is the one that he is looking forward to.
In an exclusive interview with Hindustan Times, the world’s best chess player, who is in Kolkata for the Tata Steel Chess tournament, weighed in on India’s young chess stars, the state of the game and his own future.
Excerpts:
On how he looks at his No.1 spot in classical chess…
One or more of the kids are probably going to surpass me in the next couple years in the classical format. And that’s okay since I don’t play a lot of classical chess. I think, like the few times that I do compete, I still want to do well. But it’s not my area of focus. I still enjoy faster chess a lot. But I think whenever I compete in classical chess, I’m still a force to reckon with.
On Arjun’s recent brief live rating jump to world No 2
He certainly has an ability to create imbalances and difficulties for his opponents that not a lot of other people have. And I think it’s happened in the past that when you’re sort of riding this wave of supreme confidence as he has then you can do amazing things. It remains to be seen if he can sustain this level. Because there are obvious shortcomings to his game right now specifically, he’s not very stable but he’s shown what he can do. I think he’s here to stay for sure. Whether his meteoric rise will continue in the same way, I’m a little skeptic.
I think both Gukesh and Arjun have a similar weakness in the sense they sometimes lack a sense of danger. It can be a good thing that they’re constantly taking a lot of chances, but sometimes you do get punished.
What we saw now in Chennai (Grand Masters) was quite typical for Arjun; he plays like a madman for seven rounds and then he wins a few games and loses one. Maybe he didn’t lose the one you sort of would expect him to. The three games that he won as black… I think he was losing or much worse at some point in all of them, but he managed to turn them around. The fourth one, yeah, he didn’t succeed but still the tournament was a success because he put so much pressure and I think we’ll see a lot of tournaments like that from him, where every single game is an adventure.
Gukesh to a lesser degree. His European Club Cup performance must have been encouraging for Ding. You could see that he can be quite vulnerable at times. He sometimes doesn’t quite sense the moment when he needs to slam the brakes and play solidly.
On Praggnanandhaa…
Pragg has had more of a normal sort of prodigy kind of experience in the last few months or a year. It’s just that he’s been outshone in the last few months by Arjun and Gukesh that sort of makes us think ‘oh what is he going to do?’ I think he’s on a very good path. There’s no reason why he’s not going to feature in the next Candidates cycle. Pragg’s biggest weakness is time trouble. He’s probably calculating a bit too much at times.
On Gukesh…
At last year’s World Cup, he surprised me by playing the London system. I was like, ‘oh, so you think you can surprise me in the opening?’ Well, I love it. I’m feeling great, and now, I’m gonna try and beat you’. I played a very good game and beat him and actually he played an excellent game in the second one and even put some pressure on me with the black pieces. Overall, in all the important tournaments he does really well. I didn’t expect him to be this good. I didn’t think that he was solid enough to sustain the kind of performance that he did in the Candidates and I was wrong, completely wrong.
On how competitive he thinks the young crop is…
I think it might be hard to see but somebody like Arjun who is so mellow and can seem a bit too nice as a person is very competitive. Gukesh, for sure. Prague as well. Abdusattarov is unbelievably competitive. He probably has like the most killer mentality of all of them.
On the current gap between him and Arjun and Gukesh in classical…
I think if we played a classical World Championship, I don’t think there’s anybody in the world who would be a favorite to beat me. But okay, maybe they would have a chance.
I have one classical tournament, that’s confirmed next year, Norway chess. Pragg was invited last year and did well. Hopefully next year both Arjun and maybe the new world champion Gukesh will have a chance.
On who he would like to play in a classical WC match today hypothetically
At the moment, I will probably have the most fun playing Gukesh.
Predictions for the World Championship
The most likely scenario is that it starts out a little bit nervous and then you know, sort of Gukesh is still the favorite but anything can happen. But there’s also a significant chance that Gukesh wins the game early. The match will more or less be a whitewash if Gukesh wins a game early.
You sort of always think there’s a chance for Ding. But he doesn’t have the confidence and it hurts him a lot when he plays. But these things can sometimes be overcome and that is of course what he has to rely on.
On the first-timer World Championship experience…
In my case, I was extremely nervous at the start (2013 vs Anand). I was dropping pieces on the board and wasn’t playing confidently. Anand’s preparation was perfect. I didn’t really know where to go and once he showed his first moments of weakness, I pounced.
I was worried that I was facing him at his very, very peak like when he beat Kramnik but then it turned out that, you know, this was somebody whom I could beat. I think it’s going to be tough for Gukesh, the first couple of games. He’s playing the World Championship at 18 in what might seem like a fun experience. But there’s more than one billion people expecting him to win, so, I think even he cannot help but be somewhat affected by that, at least at the start.
He should deal with it like he did at the Candidates. Just block everything out. Regardless of what you do, it’s still quite scary.
On Ding, who was once his strong rival…
Back in 2019 I felt that Ding and Fabiano were more or less neck and neck in level. As you said, he had the Sinquefield performance, then he won the Grand Chess Tour Finals very convincingly. He was very, very strong back then, somebody who I massively respected and even feared. But so many things have happened since so it’s like it’s also hard to put yourself in his space. Even though by his own admission he was not in a great headspace even during his World Championship against Nepo, he still managed to turn the match around, so it’s not impossible this time.
On opening predictions for WC…
I think Gukesh sometimes makes risky opening choices with both white and black. I think he will continue to do the same. Seeing as he’s playing somebody who doesn’t have a lot of confidence who’s unlikely to try and punish him. We saw Ding play a lot of different openings last time. I suspect he might try and be a little bit more consistent, a little bit more solid from the start this time. Over the course of the match. I think we’ll see significant jumping between openings from both of them, which I think you probably have to do these days.
On Aravindh Chithambaram (who won the recent Chennai Grand Masters ahead of Arjun and Aronian)
Yeah, I was a bit surprised, especially since I don’t think he had ambitions of winning the tournament. He was just trying to play solidly. I played him for the first time in Istanbul when he was quite young… In Chennai 2013 too… He’s 25 so it’s unlikely that he will make a massive leap. He’s solid, but his openings are not very good. I don’t know if he has good coaches and so but I think he can still improve.
On rating deflation in chess…
I think there has certainly been deflation. For my own level, I think that I haven’t played a lot of chess, but for the last year, every performance I’ve had has been around the same level. I think I’m quite appropriately rated; whether that would have been a little higher earlier, it’s hard to say. I think what has happened is that there’s been a massive influx of unrated Indian players who have sort of taken points from everybody over the last few years. If you look, let’s say 10 years back, everybody would have been rated 20-30 points higher.
You used to need 2660 to be in the world top 100. Now, you only need to be 2640. So, yeah, everywhere there’s clearly deflation. I don’t think we’re simply getting worse at chess. That might be too simple an explanation. I think the ratings now are lower, but they quite accurately show the level people are at.
On likely contenders to win the 2026 Candidates
I think the 2026 candidates will be lucky for the others because Gukesh will probably not be in it. I think Arjun should have a good chance. I’m not convinced about Abdusattarov even though he has a lot of rating. Maybe, Pragg… I’m not sure. I think Fabi (Caruana) will still be quite strong. Alireza (Firouzja), of course, should have a chance in 2026 as well.
For the older generation probably 2026 is the last time when they can justifiably feel that they should still be among the favourites. For someone like Fabi I think the odds are certainly against him, if we assume that he’s going to qualify for two more Candidates where he is among the favourites. It’s possible that he wins one but he’s not likely to be a significant favorite in the World Championship. At this point, apart from myself, it’s likely Ding will remain the only player from my generation to be classical world champion.
On whether it’s necessary for sporting icons to speak on political/ world issues…
I think the problem is, everybody is kind of a hypocrite, if you go issue by issue. That everybody has some issues that they deeply care about. In other issues, they don’t care. Or maybe they have opinions that they feel are maybe not well thought out enough.
I myself, I’m not outspoken for the sake of it. When I think something needs to be said, I say it. Otherwise, I generally pick my battles.
On his future…
I think it’s going to be a bit more gradual (walking away from competitive chess). I’m already somewhat phasing out playing classical chess. I’ll probably continue to do it but not very often. I don’t think I’ll stop playing the formats that I like better. Now, I’m not a professional player anymore. As you said, it’s probably to be more gradual. I don’t think I’m cut out to be a chess politician by any means. But I do want to be involved in mentoring the next generation. I think that’s something which would make a lot of sense.
