Carlsen's Assessment of Gukesh: World Champion Still Has to 'Impress' Him

Magnus Carlsen, the world's top-rated chess player, has offered his perspective on the reigning world champion, D. Gukesh, following the first day of the SuperUnited Croatia Rapid & Blitz 2025 tournament.

Magnus Carlsen and D. Gukesh face off at Norway Chess 2025

Gukesh, 19, is currently tied for the lead alongside Carlsen, Wesley So, and Jan-Krzysztof Duda.

In an interview with Take Take Take, Carlsen praised R. Praggnanandhaa and acknowledged Gukesh's improvement, but suggested he is yet to be truly impressed by the emerging Indian talents.

"Pragg has done very, very well for a while now," Carlsen stated. "I mean, he's won three classical super tournaments this year, which is extremely impressive. The other kids, they have their ups and downs."

He also commented on Alireza Firouzja's performance: "Normally, you would think in such a format, Alireza would be very strong. He probably has not had the best start, but I'm sure he'll be there."

Regarding Gukesh, Carlsen noted: "Gukesh is showing signs of improvement as well. It's very hard to say who's going to do well. But in terms of impressing me, well, that remains to be seen."

Carlsen himself admitted to feeling "rusty" after the first round. "I feel like it was a little bit shaky today, especially in time trouble. Of course, in the first game, nothing really happened. In the second, I managed to eke out a win somehow against Wesley. Didn't really feel that I had much at all. But then all of a sudden, I think he missed a little trick when I was able to keep the bishops on the board. And I think he got quite rattled after that."

He concluded: "In the last game, I didn't particularly mind the draw. But I also wanted to try. And I felt like I managed to get chances there out of nothing. I don't know if I had serious winning chances. Towards the end, I was really flirting with a loss as well. But yeah, overall, the score is all right. I'll take that. But it feels a bit rusty."