 "Fabiano Caruana had defeated D Gukesh on the final day of Norway Chess 2025 to deny him the title. Image: Norway Chess 2025")
World No.4 and third-highest-rated chess player in history, Fabiano Caruana, has become the latest after Magnus Carlsen to say that rising Indian chess stars, including world champion D Gukesh, have a long way to cover before they start dominating the sport and the rankings.
Five-time world champion Carlsen fired a salvo at Indian chess prodigies Gukesh and Arjun Erigaisi after winning Norway Chess 2025. The 34-year-old world No. 1 said he is still “quite a lot better than the guys who are trying to take over,” referring to the rising Indian stars .
Carlsen’s comments highlighted his excitement at winning the Norway Chess after he suffered his first-ever classical defeat to 19-year-old Gukesh during the tournament. The result also kicked off the debate that the Indian chess superstars are ready to take over from top players like Carlsen, world No.2 Hikaru Nakamura and Caruana.
Currently, there are three Indians among the top 10 in the FIDE ratings list. While Erigaisi is world No.3, Gukesh is at the fourth spot. R Praggnanandhaa is seventh.
‘Indian chess players are not scary’
Caruana, who has been among the top chess players in the world for many years, however, is not bothered by the rise of Indian youngsters. On his C Squared Podcast, Caruana said he doesn’t find anything “scary” about the Indian players, as of yet.
“(These Indians players are) very strong. I think that we’ll be competing on more or less equal terms for a while. But I don’t find them scary yet. Whatsoever!” Caruana said.
American Grandmaster Caruana added that in his experience, players like Gukesh and Arjun still have a lot of gaps in their games, which makes it easy for him to find the winning chances.
“When I play for example Arjun or Gukesh, I do get this feeling — not just based on this Norway Chess tournament, but on many tournaments — that I can really outplay them very significantly and get a lot of winning chances. I don’t think they can outplay me in the same way," Caruana added.
“Although they will get winning chances and then it’s about some other factors. Really this is my honest opinion. It’s not me trying to play them down or anything. I’m not doing that. They can definitely outperform me in various ways. But my feeling is that if it’s a long match, they’re great fighters, but they also give a lot of chances and (for them) it can be very frustrating to play against someone who doesn’t give many chances.”
At Norway Chess, Caruana defeated Gukesh on the final day, with the Indian finishing third behind Carlsen and the American. Their previous encounter in the tournament had ended in a draw, while Caruana beat Arjun once and lost to him once.