Garry Kasparov’s hot take on Gukesh vs Ding Liren: ‘Don’t see it as World Championship match (without Carlsen)’ | Chess News

Former world champion Garry Kasparov has said that he does not really see the upcoming battle between Gukesh and Ding Liren as a World Chess Championship battle since the world’s best player at the moment, Magnus Carlsen, is not competing.
Kasparov, arguably the world’s greatest player in hory, has reasoned that with five-time world champion Carlsen opting out of defending his crown last year, the long line of world champions has come to an end.
Kasparov made the comment on a YouTube video for the St Louis Chess Club where grandmasters were asked for the ‘hottest take’ on the upcoming Gukesh vs Ding Liren World Championship match.
“My hottest take is that I don’t treat this as a World Championship match. For me, a World Championship match was always a match for the title of the best player in the world. I think the hory of the World Championship matches started here in St Louis when Steinitz faced Zukertort (when Wilhelm Steinitz faced Johannes Zukertort in the 1886 World Chess Championship match) and ended with Magnus Carlsen. There were 16 World Champions. You could call them, at every given moment, the best players in the world. They took the title beating the best players (in the world at that time),” Kasparov said.
Kasparov on Gukesh vs Ding Liren
He went on to add: “With all due respect, Ding Liren playing Gukesh is an important event. It’s an FIDE event. I think Gukesh is a favourite, because the way Ding Liren has been playing lately, it’s kind of a shadow of the old Ding Liren we all remember. If he can recover miraculously, then it will be an interesting fight. But, in any case, it’s an event that has nothing to do with the main idea of the World Championship match, to decide, to find the best player on the planet.”
Kasparov, who has himself sat on the world champion’s throne multiple times, also backed Carlsen’s rationale for forfeiting his crown.
“These days, with chess getting faster and faster, with our lives getting faster, to keep an antiquated system of qualification that takes 18 months or longer to select a challenger, it’s not adequate. I think Magnus’ decision — though probably I would have acted differently — was the correct one. You can see that he’s enjoying himself now. He’s playing better chess than before. It’s a tough decision that he has made.”