Chess
'Gukesh sees every position as a problem to solve': Magnus Carlsen
Magnus Carlsen pointed out Gukesh's strength and flaws in a podcast.
D Gukesh (Photo Credit: FIDE)
The five-time world chess champion Magnus Carlsen appeared on the latest episode of the famous Joe Rogan podcast. The 34-year-old spoke about various issues, including his feud with US Grandmaster Hans Neimann.
The Norwegian also heaped praise on the reigning world champion Gukesh Dommaraju, while also highlighting his apparent weakness.
"You have the current classical world champion from India, Gukesh. He doesn't play casual games at all," said Carlsen.
"He just studies his a** off all the time. He's also not good at rapid chess, not good at blitz, not good at other forms. But he has made all his studies about classical chess.
"He didn't even own a chess software on his computer before he was 13. And he was already a grandmaster by that time," he added.
Carlsen then also compared Gukesh's playing style with French GM Alireza Friouzja, an exciting talent with whom he has trained with in the past.
"You see that in these guys playing style," said Carlsen. "The guy [Firouzja] who has been playing constantly all the time, from when he was little, he has fantastic instincts. Especially with little time, he just knows where the pieces go. He's only one of the kids, who has that kind of feeling.
"The Indian guy [Gukesh], on the other hand, from the way he studies during games, he's meticulous, he calculates, he sees every position as a problem to solve, more than 'what does the intuition tell me?'
"It's like, for him, it's more this is possible, this is possible. Let me try this all the way through. So it's just very, very different. They call it like the tortoise and the hare sometimes," added Carlsen.
