Gukesh is known for his humbleness, and he proved his sportsmanship after acknowledging his shortcomings after Magnus Carlsen’s bitter remarks. In a recent podcast, Carlsen opened up about his opinion on Gukesh’s talent and said, “He’s not good at rapid chess, not good at blitz, he’s not good at other forms. But he has made all his studies about classical chess.”
Gukesh is currently World Number 3 in classical chess, but he doesn’t have the same privileges in other formats, including the rapid, freestyle, and blitz format. He’s also the youngest-ever world champion by winning the title at the age of 18 in 2024. He has earned an ELO rating of 2787 in classical chess, however his ELO rating in rapid and blitz is below 2700.
Not just that, Gukesh also struggled to secure a win in the first leg of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour 2025 and finished the tournament in eighth position out of ten participants. He could not secure a single win in the whole tournament in nine rounds. It looks like Gukesh is well aware of his weaknesses, and he recently addressed that post-Carlsen’s remark and shared, “I’m honoured to win the world championship title, but there is a long way to go before comparing with Magnus,”
“It’s a positive thing that I have won this, but there is also someone like Magnus to look up to and set myself as a benchmark,” he added. But that’s not it, he further added something that took everyone by surprise, he said, “ When you have nothing to work on, you get bored. I have lots to look forward to. I have to improve in other formats… I’m World No. 3 [in classical]. So still a long way to go,”
Read More
He then proceeded to compare the Freestyle and classic chess formats and said, “Freestyle is exciting, and I’m happy to play it. But it’s too early to say where it’s going. We’ve only had two serious freestyle tournaments so far. I do hope freestyle grows big, but I don’t think it will ever overshadow classical chess. The World Championship cycle and the legacy behind it give classical chess more value,”
Gukesh also shared his opinion on India’s position in chess with pride and said, “I don’t think there is any other country that has so many players at the top but also just coming up. US has a lot of amazing players but they are already well-established,”
“It’s really amazing to see how we are pushing each other, growing together. This very healthy rivalry we have. Already we are seeing a lot of Indians coming out on top in important tournaments like Olympiad, World Championship, Tata Steel Chess etc. It’s really exciting for Indian chess and I’m really happy to be part of this amazing group.” he added
Also Read: Freestyle Chess Final Countdown: Who Will Claim the 12th Spot in Paris?
