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Fabiano Caruana takes on world champion Gukesh Dommaraju at the Norway Chess tournament. (PHOTO: Norway Chess via Roza Czarnota)
Over the last few years, there has been plenty of talk in chess about an Indian take over at the top of the rankings. There are currently four Indian players among the top 10 spots in the FIDE ratings and a 19-year-old from Chennai, Gukesh, occupies the world champion’s throne. But Fabiano Caruana has said on his podcast after the Norway Chess tournament that there is still time for Indian prodigies like Gukesh, Praggnanandhaa and Arjun Erigaisi taking over the top spots in the sport from the likes of world no 1 Magnus Carlsen, Hikaru Nakamura and Caruana himself.
The recently-ended Norway Chess tournament was a clash of generations in that sense with Carlsen, Caruana and Nakamura representing their generation while Gukesh and Erigaisi were flying the flag for Indian prodigies. Gukesh even went into the final day of the event with a chance to win the title, trailing Carlsen by half a point. But in the end, it was Carlsen who won his 7th title at Stavanger while Caruana pipped Gukesh to second spot. Nakamura was fourth ahead of Erigaisi.
Caruana believes that the Indian stars are great players, but they’re “not scary” yet.
“(These Indians players are) very strong. I think that we’ll be competing on more or less equal terms for a while. But I don’t find them scary yet. Whatsoever!” Caruana said on his C Squared Podcast.
At Norway Chess, Caruana beat Gukesh in the final game to deliver a cruel heartbreak on the Indian teenager who had started the day with hopes of winning the tournament. In the previous game, the duo had drawn their classical duel. Caruana had beaten Arjun once at the tournament and lost the second time with colours reversed to the Indian.
World chess champion Gukesh waits for world no 1 Magnus Carlsen to show up for the fateful game which saw the Indian teenager defeat the Norwegian, which led to the infamous fist smash on the table. (Express Photo by Amit Kamath)
Why it’s not time for a change of guard yet
Caruana, who finds himself on 4th spot in the FIDE June ratings between Erigaisi and Gukesh, then explained why the world of chess was unlikely to see a changing of guard in the near future.
“If Levon Aronian is 10 years older than me and he’s competing on completely equal terms with these young guys… or Hikaru, who’s five years older than me, and it feels like he’s still a stronger player than these young guys for the most part… then why would there be this theory that they’re going to take over anytime soon. Especially if you consider that Magnus is, I would say, clearly stronger than them,” he said.
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He praised the Indians as fighters, but pointed out that they were giving their opponents plenty of chances too in games.
“When I play for example Arjun or Gukesh, I do get this feeling — not just based on this Norway Chess tournament, but on many tournaments — that I can really outplay them very significantly and get a lot of winning chances. I don’t think they can outplay me in the same way. Although they will get winning chances and then it’s about some other factors. Really this is my honest opinion. It’s not me trying to play them down or anything. I’m not doing that. They can definitely outperform me in various ways. But my feeling is that if it’s a long match, they’re great fighters, but they also give a lot of chances and (for them) it can be very frustrating to play against someone who doesn’t give many chances.”
English (US) ·