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Younger guys not ready to take over yet: Carlsen
“I think Gukesh showed here (Norway Chess) that he’s on track…Maybe he’s not way ahead of track as we may have thought”
Bengaluru: Magnus Carlsen did just Magnus Carlsen things. Like showing up for the games after a round of golf with trainer Peter Heine Nielsen, and winning his seventh Norway Chess title. The tournament was a clash of generations – three players aged between 19-26 going up against three players in their mid to late thirties. Two from the latter group finished first and second, with only Gukesh sneaking into third from the former lot. Carlsen, 34 and ranked No.1 in the world, believes that while the young crop is talented and tenacious, it is not ready to take over the reins just yet.
“I feel like in at least parts of the game I’m still a lot better than the kids who are trying to take over. Fabi (Caruana) and Hikaru (Nakamura) are still very, very good at what they do. I generally feel that I can outplay the kids, which feels good.”
Asked who he would pick among the younger lot as the one likely to dominate, much like he has, Carlsen said: “There is no one at the moment. That’s the honest answer…I think Gukesh showed in this tournament that he’s on track. He’s doing fantastic. Maybe he’s not way ahead of track as we may have thought. I think he’s a bit like where I was in 2008-2009. He can do extremely well. The great results come not only with the quality of the positional play, but with a lot of fighting qualities.
“But that’s how kids are supposed to be. You’re not supposed to master everything at that age. As for the others, they’re good but the likelihood of one of them becoming a clear number one, I don’t see very clearly. At the moment I think the older guys are better. They’re (younger guys) not ready to take over. Every single one of them has very clear flaws and that’s how it’s supposed to be at their age. Once-in-a-generation talents are once-in-a-generation talents for a reason – it’s not that easy.”
Carlsen spoke about “losing a little bit of interest in the tournament” after his loss to Gukesh. “I regret the moves I made more than the gestures I made in the moment (in the now viral video clip). History will at least still show that I won the tournament. People have got to realise that when I have those emotional reactions, the only person I’m upset at is myself. My reaction didn’t stop there. I was so out of it that I had to jump out of the car on the way back and take several minutes just to compose myself. It’s just honestly the pain of chess, especially classical.”
The five-time world champion didn’t rule out his return to Norway Chess next year.
“Even though I won the tournament, the strongest emotion from the tournament was my game against Gukesh. It’s more relief than joy at winning, that’s kind of why I’m very much on the fence on whether I want to do this. I’m not definitely saying that I’m playing or not playing next year but I’m not ruling it out at the very least. There were some encouraging signs in my play, but there were also moments where I felt very old.”
