'Won't take a lot for Gukesh to sow doubts in Javokhir Sindarov’s mind': Magnus Carlsen

BENGALURU: World No. 1 and five-time world chess champion Magnus Carlsen has rated Uzbek challenger Javokhir Sindarov as the favourite for his title match against incumbent D Gukesh. The face-off starts in Geneva on Nov 24.“Chess is a highly psychological sport, so probably it won’t take a lot to — potentially — put some doubts in Sindarov’s mind and gain some confidence along the way,” Carlsen told reporters here after his team Alpine APL Pipers went down 4-12 to Ganges Grandmasters in the Global Chess League on Thursday.“But as it stands, there’s no question that Sindarov is ahead. However, if you think that a certain match is an 80:20 at the start, the likelihood is still very high that it’s going to be a one-or-two score match (number of decisive games from the 14) because chess is such a drawish game. And that means that Gukesh (has a chance). He has shown that his ceiling is on par with or better than Sindarov’s. And it’s a short match. The first few games can determine a lot. If Sindarov is ahead early on, it would probably be very, very bad news (for the Indian fans). If he is ahead early on, he automatically becomes a significant favourite. That’s how these matches work,” added the Norwegian superstar.He minced no words when he said that assessing everything on the first few games of the match is incorrect.“It’s one of the reasons why I believe it’s an extraordinarily bad way to determine the best player in the world— you play classical, which is the most egalitarian format, but you don’t play a ton of games as well,” he said.Carlsen also said that Gukesh should not be in a position where he has to “defend everything”.“The word ‘defend’ is already adding pressure (being the defending champ). It’s not a good place to begin with, going by the way Gukesh has played for the last couple of years. He should be in a position where he has everything to gain. He has shown in 2024 that when things click, he has the potential to play at an extremely high level.“While many people don’t believe he will succeed now, it’s a more interesting challenge for him to try and regain that level.”Though Carlsen had withdrawn from the World Championship cycle before the 2023 match (Ding Liren vs Ian Nepomniachtchi), he is the reigning world champion in three other FIDE events — freestyle, rapid & blitz. He is also expected to play the inaugural Total Chess World Championship tour next year, a joint venture between Norway chess organisers and FIDE that combined various time controls under one umbrella.The top-2 players from that tour will qualify for the 2028 Candidates tournament.Does this window offer fans hope to see Carlsen vs Gukesh or Sindarov matchup for the Classical World Championship? Carlsen, 35, made his disinterest clear.“If anything has changed, it’s kind of the other way (losing more interest).”Results (Day 6): APL Pipers 4 lost to Ganges 12, Triveni 5 lost to Mumba 14, Pipers 11 bt Knights 6, Gambits 13 bt Ganges 5.Get the latest Sports News and Live updates. Download the TOI app.