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Just before the start of the Candidates 2024 campaign in Toronto, Canada, former world champion Magnus Carlsen was interviewed by chess.com to assess the eight-player field in the open category of the most prestigious competition.
Carlsen stated that he couldn’t imagine 17-year-old D Gukesh winning the Candidates as he was not quite ready to make the leap. Furthermore, he predicted a few bad losses and a couple of wins in the campaign for Gukesh.
“I cannot imagine him winning the Candidates. I can see him being anywhere from +2 to -5 (at the end of the tournament). I think he will certainly win at least a couple of games but will have some fairly bad losses as well.
"I don’t think he will do poorly, but I don’t think he will do too well either. He’s not quite ready yet to make the leap. It’s more likely that he has a bad event,” Magnus Carlsen said before the start of the Candidates 2024.
“He’s not as high-profile as some of the other youngsters” - Magnus Carlsen
Gukesh defied expectations and proved Carlsen wrong by clinching victory in the Candidates tournament. He left behind the predicted favorites - two-time World Championship contender Ian Nepomniachtchi, World No.2 Fabiano Caruana, and World No.3 Hikaru Nakamura - trailing by a mere half-point margin.
As Gukesh engaged in the final round against Nakamura, Carlsen, during a Chess24 stream, offered his assessment of the Candidates campaign. He openly admitted to feeling “confused” about Gukesh’s performance.
“Gukesh is probably a bit stronger than myself and others realised. The thing about Gukesh is that he can look really vulnerable at times. Then he’s also not very good at speed chess. That can confuse (people’s assessment about him). And he’s not as high-profile as some of the other youngsters, which is confusing. But he’s proven in this tournament that he’s very strong,” admitted Carlsen.
Moreover, Carlsen disclosed that Gukesh had approached him at the Freestyle Chess G.O.A.T. Challenge chess event in Germany in February 2024 to seek much-needed advice.
The 17-year-old Gukesh became the second Indian after Viswanathan Anand to qualify for the World Championship. Also, he was the second youngest participant in the Candidates in history, after Bobby Fischer.
Notably, Gukesh became a Grandmaster at the age of 12 years, 7 months, and 17 days in January 2019, emerging as the second youngest grandmaster ever.
