Magnus Carlsen relinquished his crown four years ago. But he continues to rule the chess world. He drew the biggest applause at the Tech Mahindra Global Chess League, which concluded in Bengaluru on Sunday. On a fine evening at the Lalit Ashok, the World No. 1 from Norway spoke on a variety of topics. Excerpts:
The newly launched Total Chess World Championship Tour.
I think it is an important step for chess to rate slightly faster games as classical. We have needed a more universal system of rating every tournament game for a long time. Attempts have been made, but it has always been that the classical rating has been the gold standard.
And every tournament that doesn’t have a classical rating for certain people matters less for this reason. So I am happy that Total Chess can both be classically rated and be a mix of formats that makes it harder for people to master weaknesses.
On D. Gukesh’s defence of the World title in his upcoming match against Javokhir Sindarov
I think the word defence is really not a good place to begin. Because in terms of how Gukesh has played for the last couple of years, he should not be in a position where he has to defend anything. He should be in a position where he has everything to gain.
And yeah, he has shown previously in 2024 that he has, when things click, the potential to play at an extremely high level. And I don’t think a lot of people believe that he will do it now, but I think it is even more of an interesting challenge for him to try and get back to that.
And chess is a highly psychological game. So it probably won’t take a lot to potentially place some doubts in Sindarov’s mind and for Gukesh to get some confidence. As it stands, there is no question that Sindarov is the favourite.
But in that World championship match, all you need is to win a game or to, as chess is such a drawish game. And Gukesh has shown that his ceiling is on par or better than Sindarov. There is no doubt about that.
And the other thing is that it is a short match. The first few games can determine a lot. If Sindarov is ahead early on, it is probably very, very bad news for Gukesh. If Gukesh is ahead early on, he automatically becomes a significant favourite. That is how these matches work.
About R. Praggnanandhaa who has been in red-hot form on the chessboard
I think he has a very good foundation in chess. But he plays in a very aggressive way. And it has been working out really well for him recently. I don’t think his approach has changed too much.
I am a fan. I love watching his chess. He pushes his opponents very, very hard. He manages to put pressure on basically everybody, including myself. But I think he is still not at a point where he can say that he has distanced himself from his peers. He is not quite consistent enough for that.
About the Global Chess League
It has a really good format. I have said from the start that we need team formats in chess that are genuinely exciting.
The lack of increments is very good. I would have preferred not to have the two-second increment after 40 moves as well. I think it was implemented on the request of us players who are incompetent and lazy at times.
Also this is the format where you have the very clear white against black. Matches are staggered, which is very good. The matches are always going to be decisive unless all six games are drawn.
There are just a lot of good things about the GCL. I would also like to come to India every second year or so. Because I need a year off to remind myself how crowded the tournaments are and all of that. But parts of it I really enjoy. There is no atmosphere or enthusiasm for chess in the rest of the world.
The impact of AI on chess
I am not a computer expert, so I don’t know if chess is going to be solved (by the computer). Chess is semi-solved in the sense that we are pretty sure that it is a draw. And it is a draw in a ton of ways. The margin is quite big.
AI and computers in general have made the game a lot more accessible. You are now able to follow it, see the score. For the pros, it has made it, after an initial period of excitement, even more egalitarian than it was before.
The possibility of coming back to the classical World championship cycle
After I became a father as well, I am even more certain that I will never come back to the classical World championship. There are so many things that I like about chess. There are a lot of tournaments that I like. There are a lot of formats that I like. Even classical, especially faster times of classical, maybe not as a steady diet, but at least once in a while. I can’t justify spending a ton of time on something that I genuinely dislike.
Also, there is no competitive reason why I should. It makes zero sense for me. I am satisfied with being five-time World champion rather than a six-time World champion. Well, there are other world championship formats as well. Fifteen-time World champion in rapid and blitz – that is quite a lot more than everybody else.
The crowd at the GCL in Bengaluru
The crowd has been good. I love it when chess tournaments have good experiences for the public.
The favourites in the open section of the Chess Olympiad which begins at Samarkand on Tuesday
India, Uzbekistan and the USA are all incredible teams. Considering what happened last time, I think India is still the team to beat.
The way the players, including him, are introduced to the audience before every match at the GCL
It is nice to remind myself of some of the things that I have won.
Playing golf at the Bangalore Golf Club before his GCL games
I go there and I try to hit the ball. Sometimes I hit it, sometimes not. Sometimes it goes in the hole, sometimes it goes in the woods, sometimes it goes in the water, sometimes in the fairway.
Footballers Erling Haaland and Gerard Pique investing in chess
I think it is great. A lot of celebrities, not only from football, have an interest in chess. And it speaks of how chess has become part of popular culture a lot more during the last five, six years.
His future in chess
It is not going to be forever. At the moment, I am taking a few years at a time. It is hard to imagine me completely stepping away from competitive chess as long as I am pretty good at it. And also because I like playing.
Published – September 14, 2026 07:35 am IST
