Carlsen shrugs off Gukesh’s chances in Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour Paris leg

Magnus Carlsen thinks World Chess Champion D Gukesh will struggle in the second leg of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour, which begins April 7 in Paris.

Gukesh and three other Indians will be part of a star-studded 12-man field headlined by Carlsen. Arjun Erigaisi, R Praggnanandhaa, and qualifier Vidit Gujrathi will be the other Indians at the event. The other participants are Hikaru Nakamura, Fabiana Caruana, Vincent Keymer, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Alireza Firouzja, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Hans Niemann.

Carlsen and fellow competitor Caruana did an impromptu assessment of the strong field in the Paris leg as they went live on Twitch on April 3, in between playing random online games for fun.

American Caruana had finished runner-up to Vincent Keymer in the first leg of the Grand Slam Tour held at Weissenhaus in Germany in February. Carlsen, who lost the semifinals to German Keymer, claimed the third place, beating wildcard entrant Javokhir Sindarov. Gukesh did not win any of his round-robin games at Weissenhaus, but managed to reach the knockouts in the eighth position, before losing to Caruana in the quarterfinals.

The participants will play a two-day round-robin phase, from which eight will advance to the knockout rounds featuring classical freestyle games.

Looking at the field, Carlsen and Caruana tried to guess the four players who might miss out on the final eight in the knockouts, and Gukesh was one of the names both agreed upon.

"Everyone's at risk, of course. But Gukesh, Niemann, Vincent, Maxime.. Vidit on paper is going to struggle a bit," Carlsen said. Carlsen scored a win over Gukesh when they played in Weissenhaus. It was Gukesh's first game against Carlsen since becoming the youngest World Champion last December.

However, the Norwegian and his American Super GM friend gave the benefit of the doubt to Vidit, who recently got married. "But he is on his honeymoon. What is the data on playing on honeymoon?" enquired Caruana. "I haven't tried yet," chuckled Carlsen, who married his girlfriend Ella Malone in January. "I think he (Vidit) should be alright. He is very happy, in a good spirit," Carlsen added about Vidit.

"If you look at the field, look at Vincent; he won the last tournament, but there is a chance that he could be out. Maybe we're underestimating him. But getting through this field, not being bottom four here in rapid is tough," Carlsen said. The five-time world champion, however, reiterated his admiration for Erigaisi, calling him "very, very tricky".