Carlsen’s former second backs Gukesh’s world title amid growing criticism: ‘Legitimate world champion’

Another chess Grandmaster has come out in support of world champion D Gukesh, slamming the critics questioning the credentials of the Indian prodigy. Days after American Grandmaster Wesley So said that Gukesh should be recognised as the official world champion, the strongest endorsement for the 19-year-old Indian chess star has come from Magnus Carlsen’s former assistant trainer, Russian Grandmaster Daniil Dubov, who said that doubting the Chennai lad’s talent is wrong.

Gukesh has often faced sharp criticism over his World Chess Championship 2024 victory, with world champions like Garry Kasparov and Vladimir Kramnik questioning his ability. Kasparov has also said on record that Gukesh is not the "strongest" player in the world.

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But Russian chess star Dubov, who helped Carlsen defend the world title against Fabiano Caruana in 2018, has rejected any such criticism.

Carlsen’s former second backs Gukesh’s world title

The 29-year-old Dubov said that as long as Carlsen is playing, no Grandmaster can be considered the strongest player in the world, but that doesn’t undermine Gukesh’s World Championship title.

“Gukesh is unquestionably the champion. Gukesh is an absolutely legitimate World Champion, he absolutely deserved it," Dubov told Russian-language YouTube channel Chess-ray. “Moreover, I do not share the idea that Gukesh is somehow not a proper World Champion.

“Even when people talk about playing strength — I disagree. Okay, you live in an era when there is Magnus, but this has happened before in history. Gukesh is not 15th in the world. For me, he is definitely in the top five in terms of strength. And, frankly, that is quite decent for such a person to become World Champion. Because the World Champion is the one who won the World Championship. It’s not necessarily the strongest in the world. If it were always the strongest, and it was obvious, you could simply not hold a World Championship at all.”

Comparing world chess champion Gukesh to the his peers and upcoming talents, Dubov said that Gukesh would beat Arjun Erigaisi, Vincent Keymer and Nodirbek Abdusattorov in long match tournaments while also admiring the Indian chess player’s ability to uplift his game at most crucial tournaments.

“Of all the young generation, he is the strongest for me. This is not the most obvious statement, but I truly think that head-to-head or in a long match-tournament, he would beat all these Erigaisis, Keymers, Abdusattorovs,” he added.

“It seems to me that Gukesh played his three best tournaments at the most important moment of his life. Two Olympiads and the Candidates. When a person peaks at the right time — that is the most important quality. If we are not witch-hunting, that is impressive. This quality of winning when it matters is very important.”

While Gukesh has been out of form recently, he would look to bounce back to his usual best at the Tata Steel Masters at Wijk aan Zee, which starts from Saturday with 14 Grandmasters.