Garry Kasparov on Gukesh becoming world champion: ‘Era of world champions ended with Magnus Carlsen’ | Chess News

In taking down Ding, the Indian teenager, in fact, made history as the youngest world champion in the sport at the age of 18 last year.

However, when asked about Gukesh becoming a world champion as a teenager, Garry Kasparov had some pointed observations to make.

“Gukesh won fair and square but you can hardly call him the strongest player in the world. I don’t want to sound offensive but I think Magnus ended the era of classical world champions. Gukesh’s world championship title is very different. It’s still clear that Magnus is the strongest and Gukesh is yet to prove his superiority over others. Even players of his age category. The round 1 game against Praggnanandhaa at the Sinquefield Cup was very unimpressive. The rules are the rules and the games are the games,” Kasparov added.

Garry Kasparov (left) greets Gukesh (right) before the teenager’s match against Magnus Carlsen earlier this year at the
Superbet Rapid & Blitz Poland tournament. (Photo Courtesy Lennart Ootes)

He then apologized for his strong view, but doubled down on them nonetheless.

“I’m sure there will be more excitement in the Candidates and the next world championship match. But I apologise. I have to apologise time and again. This is not exactly the title that I had or Karpov had or Fischer had or Magnus had,” Kasparov said.

WATCH: Garry Kasparov’s comments about Gukesh

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Kasparov’s comments come at the 9-minute mark in the following video.

Kasparov’s comments came as Gukesh played out a draw against Jan-Krzysztof Duda, the Polish grandmaster who helped him become world champion. Here’s an interactive on how the game played out:

Chess legend Garry Kasparov with current world champion Gukesh before the start of the SuperUnited Rapid and Blitz Croatia 2025 in Zagreb. (PHOTO: Grand Chess Tour via Lennart Ootes)

Why Kasparov’s comments matter

Kasparov is one of the greatest chess players in history, a man who won the prestigious world championship title six times. Four of those titles came against Anatoly Karpov. He also beat Nigel Short and five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand.

Besides Bobby Fischer, Kasparov and Carlsen have a stake on the tag of the greatest chess player in history. Kasparov briefly coached Carlsen in his younger days.

Carlsen, in fact, has repeatedly said that in his opinion Kasparov is the greatest chess player in history of the sport.

Susan Polgar defends Gukesh

As Kasparov’s comments aired on the live broadcast of the fifth round of the Sinquefield Cup, chess legend Susan Polgar posted an impassioned defence of the Indian teenager on her X handle.

Gukesh Dommaraju during a round 3 game at the Sinquefield Cup 2025 in St Louis. (PHOTO: Lennart Ootes)

“Gukesh is a deserving World Classical Champion, period! He went through the FIDE Candidates as an 18-year-old, the youngest in the tournament, and came out ahead of big stars like Fabiano Caruana, Hikaru Nakamura, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Alireza Firouzja, and Pragg etc. It was not his fault that Magnus Carlsen walked away from his title. If we, as a chess community, delegitimize his title because he did not beat Carlsen, then we need to do the same for World Champions after Bobby Fischer since he also walked away from his title! We can not have different standards for players we like or dislike,” Polgar posted.

Full list of chess’ world champions

Wilhelm Steinitz (1886, 1889, 1890, 1892)

Emanuel Lasker (1894, 1896, 1907, 1908, 1910, 1910)

Jose Raul Capablanca (1921)

Alexander Alekhine (1927, 1929, 1934, 1937)

Max Euwe (1935)

Mikhail Botvinnik (1948, 1951, 1954, 1958, 1961)

Vasily Smyslov (1957)

Mikhail Tal (1960)

Tigran V. Petrosian (1963, 1966)

Boris Spassky (1969)

Bobby Fischer (1972)

Anatoly Karpov (1975, 1978, 1981, 1984)

Garry Kasparov (1985, 1986, 1987, 1990, 1993, 1995)

Vladimir Kramnik (2000, 2004, 2006)

Viswanathan Anand (2007, 2008, 2010, 2012)

Magnus Carlsen (2013, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2021)

Ding Liren (2023)

Gukesh Dommaraju (2024)

History of Kasparov’s comments on Gukesh

Kasparov’s sentiments about Gukesh’s world championship win echo comments that Kasparov had made earlier in May this year while the Indian teenager was competing in the Grand Chess Tour’s event in Bucharest.

When Kasparov was asked to compare his own feat of becoming world champion at the age of 22, which was a record till Gukesh broke it last year, Kasparov said: “(What Gukesh managed) is a phenomenal accomplishment. But I beat the strongest player in the world. Gukesh is in a different situation because Magnus is there. So Gukesh is the official world champion, there’s no doubt about it, but there’s somebody else who is widely considered, by all metrics, as a better player. So he has plenty of room and plenty of time to improve. That’s a challenge that I’m sure he’s dealing with.”

World champion Gukesh Dommaraju during the game against Nodirbek Abdusattorov at the Sinquefield Cup. (PHOTO: Grand Chess Tour via Lennart Ootes)

Kasparov had then explained how Gukesh had managed to overcome Ding.

“Gukesh was, in my view, a favorite (at the world chess championship) because Ding was the pale shadow of what Ding was before COVID. I remember Ding’s performance in one of the events in St Louis (in 2019 against Magnus Carlsen). Absolutely phenomenal! Just absolutely phenomenal,” Kasparov told the YouTube handle of the Saint Louis Chess Club.

Kasparov had gone on to admit: “I was not one who thought that Ding would be a natural challenger. Ding at his best against Magnus… that would be a match! But then COVID ruined him. Ding after COVID was just a different player, still very tenacious, just tons of resilience. Solid. Some interesting ideas even in match against Nepo (Ian Nepomniachtchi), there were a couple of moments of his brilliance, but not the same player. While Gukesh was just rising after he won the Candidates. Everything can happen in a world championship match because it’s a long match. But Gukesh was always ahead. Ding fought heroically: he nearly saved the match. But I think it’s a result that is justified. Gukesh was a better player.”

Since becoming world champion, the Indian teenager had managed to defeat Carlsen twice: once in classical format at Norway Chess and another time in rapid at the SuperUnited Rapid and Blitz Croatia tournament.

Magnus Carlsen takes on Gukesh in a game at the SuperUnited Rapid and Blitz chess tournament in Zagreb. (PHOTO: Grand Chess Tour via Lennart Ootes)

After the Indian teenager beat Carlsen in Croatia, Kasparov had remarked: “Gukesh is a player that’s hard to beat. Gukesh has many lives (in each game). You have to beat him many times. There is some resemblance (to computers). He has a resilience that reminds me of computers. He’s probably the most resilient player. Even Magnus has other advantages. But when it comes to resilience, he’s absolutely amazing. If you look at the infamous game against Magnus (at Norway Chess), I don’t recall Magnus ever losing a game when he had an advantage of +3 or +4. Why he reminds me of computers is that with machines, you lose your concentration and you’re dead. With Gukesh you have to beat him five times,” Kasparov had said.

Back then, Kasparov had some sharp remarks about Carlsen.

“Now we can question Magnus’ domination,” the former world champion, who was on commentary for the official stream, had said. “This is not just his second loss to Gukesh, it’s a convincing loss. It’s not a miracle… or that Gukesh just kept benefitting from Magnus’ terrible mistakes. It was a game that was a big fight. And Magnus lost.”