Magnus Carlsen on whether D Gukesh is a worthy world chess champion or not: 'He’s done incredibly well…'

India’s D Gukesh had become the youngest world champion in the history of chess, breaking the record previously held by the legendary Garry Kasparov, after defeating Chinese Grandmaster Ding Liren in Singapore in December.

World No 1 Magnus Carlsen did not sound too keen on his upcoming showdown against reigning world chess champion D Gukesh at Norway Chess that gets underway later this month. The Norwegian, after all, has been vocal about his disinterest for Classical chess and has been channeling his efforts into promoting Freestyle Chess, a.k.a. Chess960, as well as the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour that he is a co-founder of.

However, when it came to the subject of Gukesh’s reign as the world champion, Carlsen did not doubt the fact that the 18-year-old Indian Grandmaster had earned what remains chess’ most prestigious title with his stellar performances last year.

The 34-year-old chess icon went to the extent of singling out his run at the 45th Chess Olympiad in Budapest last year as “one of the all-time best performances”.

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