Viswanathan Anand shuts down Magnus Carlsen for criticising Gukesh’s World Chess Championship win
- World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen and former world champion Vladimir Kramnik labelled Ding Liren’s mistake as a child-like blunder. Anand, a five-time World Chess Champion, has rebuffed this view.
Vladimir Kramnik, the former coach of reigning World Chess Champion D Gukesh, and World Number 1 Magnus Carlsen recently criticised the World Championship match in Singapore where the young Indian grandmaster won the title. Now, Indian chess legend Viswanathan Anand has come up with the perfect response to silence criticism of D Gukesh’s World Championship victory against China's Ding Liren.
Speaking at a recent event, the India chess legend said, as quoted by Hindustan Times, “Gukesh never really changed the strategy of pushing. Unexpected things happened during the match, but he was there the next day, pushing again. The rook [blunder] didn’t happen in a vacuum.”
Gukesh, who received praise from current and former chess players, received negative responses from certain quarters. World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen and former world champion Vladimir Kramnik labelled Ding Liren’s mistake as a child-like blunder.
Gukesh vs defending champion Ding Liren
In December 2024, Gukesh, India's 18-year-old champion, achieved the milestone by defeating reigning champion Ding Liren in the final of the tournament in Singapore.
In the decisive Game 14 round of the FIDE World Chess Championship, it appeared it was going according to Liren’s plan, who was trying to force out a tie-breaker.
However, the Chinese Grandmaster in the 55th move made a massive blunder which saw him resign and concede to Gukesh.
A year ago, Gukesh wasn’t even expected to challenge Liren for the title, but the Indian grandmaster stunned everyone to win the Candidates Tournament as he qualified for a showdown with Liren.
Gukesh Vs Carlsen
After his win in Singapore, chess great Magnus Carlsen had said that classical chess was perhaps the "worst way" to measure a player, adding that rapid chess was perhaps a more "pure" form of chess.
He said that Gukesh's World Chess Championship final against China's Ding Liren looked like a second or third round match in an open tournament.
However, Gukesh responded to Carlsen after his win in Singapore, stating that he understood that the quality of the games wasn’t always up to the mark, but overall, it was a good championship match. While Gukesh challenged Carlsen to the title, the Norwegian has ruled out such a title clash.
According to the latest FIDE rankings, Gukesh is World No. 5, and India’s No. 2.
This article has been updated to add new information.
With agency inputs.
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Business NewsSportsSports NewsViswanathan Anand shuts down Magnus Carlsen for criticising Gukesh’s World Chess Championship win
First Published:9 Jan 2025, 08:24 PM IST
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