Carlsen on Gukesh's World Champion Status: 'Impressing Me Remains to Be Seen'

Magnus Carlsen, the world's top-ranked chess player, has offered his perspective on the current World Champion, 19-year-old D. Gukesh, following the first day of the SuperUnited Croatia Rapid & Blitz 2025 tournament.

Magnus Carlsen and D. Gukesh faced off earlier this year.

Gukesh is currently tied for the lead in the tournament standings with Carlsen himself, alongside Wesley So, and Jan-Krzysztof Duda.

In an interview with Take Take Take, Carlsen lauded R. Praggnanandhaa while suggesting that Gukesh still has room to grow before truly impressing him.

"Pragg has done very, very well for a while now," Carlsen stated. "I mean, he's won three classical super tournaments this year, which is extremely impressive. The other kids, they have their ups and downs."

He also commented on Alireza Firouzja: "Normally, you would think in such a format, Alireza would be very strong. He probably has not had the best start, but I'm sure he'll be there."

Regarding Gukesh, Carlsen acknowledged his progress: "Gukesh is showing signs of improvement as well. It's very hard to say who's going to do well. But in terms of impressing me, well, that remains to be seen."

Carlsen admitted to feeling somewhat "rusty" after the first round. "I feel like it was a little bit shaky today, especially in time trouble. Of course, in the first game, nothing really happened. In the second, I managed to eke out a win somehow against Wesley. Didn't really feel that I had much at all. But then all of a sudden, I think he missed a little trick when I was able to keep the bishops on the board. And I think he got quite rattled after that."

He continued, "In the last game, I didn't particularly mind the draw. But I also wanted to try. And I felt like I managed to get chances there out of nothing. I don't know if I had serious winning chances. Towards the end, I was really flirting with a loss as well. But yeah, overall, the score is all right. I'll take that. But it feels a bit rusty."