Overview

• On live commentary, Garry Kasparov said D Gukesh “won fair and square” yet is “hardly the strongest player in the world,” calling today’s crown “very different.”
• Kasparov apologized for the bluntness but maintained that the current title is not the same as those held by Fischer, Karpov, himself or Magnus Carlsen.
• He argued Magnus remains the top player and noted Gukesh still must prove superiority over his peers, citing the teenager’s Round 1 loss to R Praggnanandhaa in St. Louis.
• Susan Polgar publicly defended Gukesh as a “deserving World Classical Champion,” stressing he won the Candidates at 18 and that Carlsen’s decision to step away should not delegitimize the title.
• Gukesh became the youngest-ever world champion by defeating Ding Liren in Singapore after winning the Candidates, and he is set to face Carlsen in an October St. Louis exhibition that also features a Kasparov–Anand match.