Daily Times

With Magnus Carlsen skipping the event, the next world champion will always be regarded as second best to the all-time great, but two Indian teenagers will be eager to make their mark at this week’s Candidates Tournament in Toronto.

The winner of the eight-player, double round robin tournament will face China’s Ding Liren for the world title next year.

Norwegian Carlsen ruled himself out of the world championship cycle in 2022, citing a lack of motivation after winning the title five times.

Carlsen continued to dominate the field, however, staying world number one and notably winning back-to-back blitz and rapid world titles in 2022 and 2023.

“(World number three Hikaru) Nakamura and (world number two Fabiano) Caruana are the best and most consistent players there,” Carlsen said of the American duo on the Sjakksnakk (chess chat) Norwegian podcast.

“If anybody else wins, it would be a bit of a surprise. If (Iran-born) Alireza (Firouzja of France) wins, it would be surprising, but not shocking. If any of the other four wins, that would be a shock.”

Indians Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa, 18, and Dommaraju Gukesh, 17, will hope to prove Carlsen wrong.

“Suddenly we have a few youngsters who have been racing upwards at a breakneck speed. Right now India is probably the fastest growing nation in the world in chess. Almost everyone in the sport agrees, the future of chess is with India,” grandmaster RB Ramesh, who coaches Praggnanandhaa, was quoted as saying by the Indian Express.

All three Indian players (Gukesh, Praggnanandhaa and Vidit Gujrathi) are Candidates debutants and it could prove a major disadvantage in a 20-day tournament that Carlsen describes as “almost psychologically as tough as the world championship”.

“I feel like anybody who is going to be classical world champion who is not me, is always going to be a bit weird,” Carlsen, who has been promoting Freestyle chess, said.