3 min readUpdated: Apr 19, 2026 08:44 PM IST
Magnus Carlsen has weighed in on who he thinks will prevail between Uzbekistan’s Javokhir Sindarov, who recently won the Candidates, and D Gukesh ahead of their World Chess Championship match at the end of the year. Sindarov was dominant at the Candidates, taking a healthy lead halfway through the tournament and winning it without losing a single game.
Carlsen has, rather famously, never rated Gukesh too high even though the Norwegian five-time world champion has lost to the Indian a few famous times in the past year or so. The 35-year-old said at the Chess Party in Stockholm, Sweden that while he knows anything can happen in a World Championship match, he backs Sindarov to prevail.
“At the moment its impossible not to say Sindarov but we know anything can happen in a World Championship match,” said Carlsen. “I am first of all really curious as to what Sindarov in the next few months because he is very different from Gukesh. In the sense that Gukesh has very obvious weaknesses when it comes to his understanding and Sindarov does not. He is a lot more well-rounded so, we’ll see,” said Carlsen.
🇺🇿 Sindarov or 🇮🇳 Gukesh? 🇳🇴 Magnus shared his thoughts at the Chess Party in Stockholm. pic.twitter.com/HvQYaxsFMN
— International Chess Federation (@FIDE_chess) April 19, 2026
Earlier, Russian legend Garry Kasparov had also backed Sindarov to beat Gukesh at the title clash. Kasparov also said that a Sindarov victory at the world championship could tempt Carlsen to make a return.
“Compared to Gukesh, if you look at the games, Sindarov looks like the clear favorite. But this match is a special format. Gukesh is very mentally stable, able to defend any position and find resources even in the worst situations. Gukesh has match experience, but for Sindarov, this will be his first serious match. Yes, it’s relatively short — 14 games, we’ve played longer games before — but it will still be very interesting,” Kasparov said in an interview with St Louis Chess Club’s YouTube handle.
“The current World Champion is 19. The challenger is only 20. But I still want to emphasize that the strongest chess player (Carlsen) is 35. With all due respect. I would love to see Sindarov playing Magnus, because Carlsen is still around. Maybe if Sindarov beats Gukesh, then there will be a chance to bring Magnus back and see how things go,” he further said.
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