Magnus Carlsen

World No. 1

“Expectations placed on him were unrealistic. He is partly to blame for all this, choosing such strong tournaments. But at the Candidates he played incredibly, and at the Olympiad he showed one of the best performances in history, leading India to gold. His match against Ding Liren was more controversial, but even so, it’s hard to dispute his results.

Let’s remember that he is still young, and until recently nothing indicated that he could play so well on a consistent basis. I think that he has entered a period of normalization and is now learning.

In certain aspects he has become stronger, but proving it in every game is not easy. Defending his status in every tournament is not a trivial task, but he will be fine. His development trajectory is good. Gukesh could become one of the greatest chess players of all time, but it is more likely that he will remain an elite player who had the best stretch of his life and became Champion. And that in itself is brilliant.”