At just 18 years old, Indian Grandmaster D Gukesh has written his name in history books by becoming the youngest-ever world chess champion. He achieved this feat after beating the defending champion, Ding Liren, in Singapore. The match was an intense one that went to the fourteenth game, where Ding made a costly blunder on the 55th move, leading him to resign and hand the victory to Gukesh. This victory sent shockwaves throughout social media, as fans, legends, and chess experts celebrated the young Indian’s success.
But the victory was not without controversy. Notably, the world’s greatest chess player, Magnus Carlsen, downplayed Gukesh’s victory. He said that classical chess is “the worst way” to determine the world’s best player and further stated rapid chess is “pure sport.”
Carlsen And Aronian Share Similar Views
Carlsen’s remarks about the state of classical chess were echoed by Armenian-American Grandmaster Levon Aronian. Currently ranked 11th in the world with a FIDE rating of 2747, Aronian has held a peak rating of 2830 and was once the world’s No. 2 in 2012. During a podcast on the Take Take Take app, Aronian discussed the potential for a 2600-rated player to draw against a top-10 Grandmaster if given proper training.
“If we think about this, if we take well-disciplined guy, let’s say a level of 2600 who studies let’s say in the openings improved Tarrasch, you know, CDCD and he studies against e4 to play the Petrov knight e5 knight e4,” Aronian explained.
“100 per cent. If we train a guy like this, he’ll be able in 80 per cent of the time to make a draw against top 10 players. That’s not what we want to see as chess fans. I don’t want to see the weaker player completely neutralising the stronger player.”
Comparing Chess To Other Sports: Aronian’s Perspective
Aronian continued to draw parallels with other sports, especially about the popularity of rapid forms. He compared the change in chess to wrestling and boxing, saying that:
“There are certain sports that went into that and then suddenly the sport became just too boring. I know a bit about wrestling. In Greco-Roman wrestling, when you change the rules, you make them concentrate on getting the points, it becomes much less of a sport like boxing,” he said. “Why is MMA so much more exciting? Because, it’s basically freestyle chess and regular boxing is like classical boxing that can turn into a very boring, technical game.”
Aronian’s Chess Legacy
Aronian is considered one of the four highest rated chess players in history. He won the FIDE World Cup titles in 2005 and 2017, making him a top player in the game. In 2021, Aronian switched his federation from the Armenian Chess Federation to the United States Chess Federation, citing government lack of support for chess in his country.
As the chess world continues to debate the place of classical and rapid formats, Gukesh’s historic win has sparked debate and reflection on the game’s future.
