Fresh from his World Chess Championship victory, D Gukesh decided to skip the ongoing FIDE World Rapid and Blitz C’ship and is spending some time away from the sport. The youngest-ever world chess champion in history has been with felicitation ceremonies and interviews. In one such interview, Gukesh was asked about the criticism thrown at him by Magnus Carlsen, and the reason behind the Indian grandmaster’s publicly stated challenge directed at the Norwegian.

The 18-year-old defeated defending champion Ding Liren in Singapore to clinch the coveted title. Qualifying for the showdown due to his Candidates win, Gukesh battled with the Chinese grandmaster till the decisive 14th game, and it looked like it was going according to Liren’s plan, who tried his best to force out a tie-breaker. But a massive blunder in the 55th move saw Liren resign and concede to Gukesh in a historic moment.

Carlsen, on the other hand, downplayed Gukesh’s victory and criticised the quality of the match. He also went on to call the classical chess format as the worst way to decide the best player in the world.

Meanwhile after his win, Gukesh publicly declared that he still wasn’t the best player in the world and challenged Carlsen. But Carlsen has already publicly declined challenging Gukesh for the World C’ship title. Explaining his challenge to Carlsen, Gukesh indirectly criticised his desire to not participate at the World C’ship, remarking ‘it’s not the fault of other players’.

In conversation with India Today, he said “It was a bit of both. At that point, I was being honest. It was clear that while the match was between two of the best players in the world, it was not a decider on who is the best. Some players believe that it should be. But when the best player doesn’t want to play, it’s not the fault of other players. As a chess fan, I’d love to see Magnus back.”

D Gukesh’s brutal response to Magnus Carlsen’s criticism

When asked about Carlsen’s criticism, he bluntly responded, “I knew Magnus was analysing the games on the TakeTakeTake app. Some of my team members were listening in, and got some insights from it. Critics had a point but because of my age I think it’s easier for things to fire me up and I want to prove them wrong. Throughout my career, criticism has been a source of motivation for me. I believe nobody can criticise me the way I do myself.”

Gukesh will return to action next year, and is set to face India legend and his idol Viswanathan Anand, and will also take on Carlsen and Arjun Erigaisi in multiple matches.