"Hikaru in top 5? I don't know how you can possibly make that argument..." — Fabiano Caruana

Fabiano Caruana

World's No. 3

“[Cristian Chirila: Is Hikaru in top 5? Because he’s inactive]

I don’t know how you can possibly make that argument. Like, how could you? You have to base it on something, and if someone doesn’t play, and on the times, they do play… I mean, I do play at least, and I also do maintain some sort of rating and play a lot.

But Hikaru… His last appearance was at the Candidates, besides the Esports World Cup. And then before that was the match against Awonder, and then before that was Clutch Chess in 2025. He doesn’t play often, and when he does, he’s scoring near the bottom half of the tournament.

[Cristian Chirila: He plays some local tournaments also, like the Atlanta Championship]

Okay, now you’re trolling him…

I mean, of course, he’s very strong. He’s very, very strong, and I wouldn’t say it’s absurd if he comes back to the board and proves in tournament results, which I think is definitely possible. But he would have to do that to start playing over the board and start getting some top place finishes and maintain number five.

[Cristian Chirila: To be fair to him, I think this is how he framed it. He said that: “If I come back and study the way I used to study”, or “Study how a professional should study, then I should still be top five.” I think that was the framing.]

I think this is a hypothetical, and maybe that could be true, but that’s purely hypothetical. And then I would say, if he comes back and maintains 2780 or 2775 for the next year, playing, let’s say, 60 Classical games a year, then yes that’s fair.

But that’s a big, big if, and the recent results just don’t really prove it.”