‘It was not his fault that Magnus Carlsen walked away’: Susan Polgar defends Gukesh after Kasparov questions Indian’s world title

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Susan Polgar has come to the defence of Gukesh against Garry Kasparov's comments on his world championship title. (Grand Chess Tour via Lennart Ootes)

With former world champion Garry Kasparov terming reigning world champion Gukesh Dommaraju’s world title triumph as ‘very different’ and sharing that the era of classical world champions ended with Magnus Carlsen winning the classical world title, former women’s world champion and Grandmaster Susan Polgar has defended Gukesh. With Kasparov calling Gukesh ‘hardly the strongest player in the world’, Polgar termed Gukesh as a ‘deserving world champion’ and also answered the critics that it was not Gukesh’s fault that Carlsen did not compete in the world championship.

“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, delegitimise 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 cannot have different standards for players we like or dislike.” Polgar posted on X.

MUST READ | Garry Kasparov on Gukesh: ‘Era of classical world champions ended with Magnus Carlsen’

🇮🇳 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 Caruana, Nakamura, Nepo, Firouzja, and Pragg, etc. It was not his fault that Magnus Carlsen walked… pic.twitter.com/5BtzXHHqYk

— Susan Polgar (@SusanPolgar) August 22, 2025

Gukesh had become the youngest-ever world champion in chess history with his 7.5-6.5 win over the defending world champion Ding Liren of China in the 2024 FIDE World Championship final in Singapore last year. The Indian grandmaster had qualified for the world championship final match against Liren after winning the Candidates Tournament. Former world champion Magnus Carlsen, who had first become world champion in 2013 defeating Viswanathan Anand, had last won the world title in 2023 and has not played in classical world championship matches since then.

This week, Gukesh has been competing in the Sinquefield Cup and had suffered a first loss against fellow Indian Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa before winning against GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov in the next match. Gukesh had played three draws post the win and Kasparov made his comments about the Indian Grandmaster’s world championship win during his draw against wild card entrant Samuel Sevian of the United States on Friday. “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 said while commentating.

Earlier, Gukesh had defeated Carlsen in a rapid game in SuperUnited Rapid and Blitz Croatia 2025 in Zagreb. The World champion had also scored a win over Carlsen in a classical chess match in Norway Chess. Polgar had also shown praise for Gukesh at that time. “I am so happy for Gukesh.Some have doubted his worthiness as a World Champion, and believed that he was just a lucky winner against an off form Ding Liren. I read a lot of criticism from doubters. In this tournament in Croatia, he started off with a loss against Duda. He was already written off as a bottom feeder by others. Then he won 5 straight, taking down Firouzja with white, Praggnanandhaa with black, Abdusattorov with black, Caruana with white, and Carlsen with black! No matter what will happen tomorrow, beating those 5 consecutively is a feat very few can ever do. I hope this will give him confidence to rise to another level!” Polgar had posted on X.

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