Pablo Ricardi

Argentine GM

“After Gukesh became World Champion, his play became inconsistent, and his results became random. What’s more, he hasn’t won a single tournament since. Of course, he’s only 19 and hasn’t yet gone through all the various challenges — both technical and psychological — but still.

At the recently concluded super tournament in Prague, Gukesh hit rock bottom. Literally — he finished last in a closed ten-player event. A performance unworthy of a World Champion. One would have to dig deep into the archives to find a similar case, if it even exists.

On the other hand, we have the best player of our time — Uzbek Nodirbek Abdusattorov. At the end of last year, he won the London Chess Classic. This year, he triumphed at the prestigious Tata Steel Chess tournament in Wijk aan Zee. And now he has confirmed these successes by confidently winning the tournament in Prague by a single point.

Abdusattorov is also very young, just 21, but he comes across as a calmer and more focused player than the World Champion. However, he too has his share of setbacks. Last year, he failed to qualify for the Candidates, so he will not be among the eight participants in Cyprus, even though, as already mentioned, he is currently playing better than anyone else — with the obvious caveat, ‘except for Carlsen.’

Thus, a paradox emerges: the World Champion does not live up to the level of his title, and the one playing best today cannot even compete for the right to become a challenger. Perhaps a more dynamic system should be found that would allow the highest title to be contested immediately.”