Gukesh reminds me of myself from 2008-2009, says Magnus Carlsen

Magnus Carlsen believes the next generation of chess superstars, including reigning world champion D Gukesh, is on the right track.

But, the five-time world champion believes the youngsters have a lot more ground to make up in many aspects of the game in order to catch up with the experienced set, including himself, Fabiano Caruana and Hikaru Nakamura.

Carlsen also likened Gukesh’s current playing style to his from over 15 years ago, in terms of the lack of control over games.

“I think the kids are on track but they’re not like way ahead of way ahead of schedule. Looking at Gukesh play I feel it it’s quite similar to what I was doing like in 2008, 2009, when I was when I was breaking through it wasn’t always so pretty.

There was this tournament for instance, Linares 2008, where Vishy [Viswanathan Anand] was cruising in first place and I was just like playing crazy games and honestly getting more out of the positions than kind of my pure chess skill suggested,” said Carlsen after winning Norway Chess 2025.

FILE – Magnus Carlsen, in action against Russian Grand Master Peter Svidler during the Aker Chess Challenge in Gjoevik, central Norway, on January 2, 2009.
| Photo Credit:
AAS, ERLEND/AFP

Earlier in the tournament, Gukesh had claimed his first classical win over Carlsen and was in the race for a maiden Norway Chess title going into the final round. But the Indian Grand Master succumbed to a defeat to Caruana and eventually settled for third in the standings.

MORE DETAILS | Norway Chess 2025: Gukesh, Humpy finish third after late slip-ups; Carlsen, Muzychuk win title

Carlsen lauded Gukesh’s ability to stay in title contention in elite tournaments, despite his error-prone ways.

“You can see in certain games that in parts of the game, Gukesh and Arjun are far behind myself, Fabian, and Hikaru. But we’re also the very best players in the world. They’re not supposed to be our equals in every part of the game.

The fact that Gukesh can actually fight for tournament victory despite having so many bad positions which he will probably not be happy with it himself; but it is encouraging and I think it’s typical, that’s what kids do as part of the process,” added Carlsen.