Magnus Carlsen confirms he is not interested in challenging for Gukesh’s throne. (File)
Former World Champion Magnus Carlsen, who relinquished his title in 2022, citing lack of motivation, has confirmed that he won’t be challenging Gukesh D in the future.
“It’s not going to be me,” Carlsen said on Take Take Take YouTube channel. “I mean, let’s talk about Gukesh and the match and so on. I’m not part of this circus anymore.”
READ MORE: Live updates from Gukesh’s homecoming after 18-year-old returns to India as the youngest world champion in chess history.
Magnus has lauded Gukesh for his impressive performance and said he deserved to be the World Chess champion.
“Of course, this was something that was a bit unexpected,” he said.
“A lot of us thought that Gukesh was the favourite to win the match, but this was a game that never really took off. Gukesh was clearly fighting for the win. I think he was doing an excellent job to keep the game alive. But it all happened very, very suddenly. And that, I think, is what he explained later as well, that he was a little bit on autopilot, expecting it to go to tie brakes, and all of a sudden you get this chance, and it’s all over,” said Magnus on Game 14.
Magnus also credited Ding Liren for showing resistance.
“You can say all you will about Ding and the way that he played, but he actually did raise his level during this match,” he said.
In April, earlier this year, Gukesh stunned the world by winning the eight-man Candidates tournament in Toronto and became the youngest ever challenger for the world championship, finishing top of a stacked field that included Ian Nepomniachtchi, Hikaru Nakamura and Fabiano Caruana.
“And yet, for all we’ve said about how we probably did expect even more for Gukesh. It feels like he has had more. He’s had very good moments, he’s had some really weak ones as well, but he overall, I think, he deserved it. And especially when we look at the way he got here. First, he was down in the feeder circuit, won the tournament in Chennai on demand to get here. Then he had an amazing performance in the candidates’ tournament, played, I think, one of the better tournaments that we’ve seen in recent years there, had a great Olympiad, even though that wasn’t part of the cycle. So the total of it is extremely impressive, even if this match and the way it ended was maybe not as convincing as people would have thought from the outset.”
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