‘Won by accident’: Anatoly Karpov questions Gukesh’s World Chess Championship

Gukesh Dommaraju, a name that made India proud on 12 December 2024, by winning the world chess championship, is now under some serious allegations. He made history by winning against Ding Liren to become the youngest world chess champion, but now former world champion Anatoly Karpov has claimed that he won the title by chance and with sheer luck.

Gukesh under fire: Former champion Anatoly Karpov calls his world chess title a stroke of luck

Gukesh defeated Chinese player Ding Liren to win the FIDE World Championship back in 2024. He became the youngest champion replacing Garry Kasparov’s long-standing record in the same. Following this, in a recent interview, 74 year old Russian chess legend Anatoly Karpov had something to say that raised eyebrows around the world. He claimed that Gukesh won the title with sheer luck and the Chinese player somehow had accepted his defeat casually. 

Anatoly said, “First of all, the Indian chess player became [champion] by chance, because he wasn’t supposed to win the match against the Chinese player [Ding Liren]. The Chinese player lost a game there that he shouldn’t have lost. Had he not, the Chinese player would have remained the world champion”. 

The former champion, explaining further, added, “Carlsen is effectively still the champion. Officially, it’s Gukesh, but because Carlsen stopped playing. And so Carlsen, if he wanted to, could take the crown back”. 

Anatoly is not the only one who criticised the champion, other grand champions like Vladimir Kramnik also shared their fair share of criticism. Following all the controversies, Ding calmly responded to his loss against Gukesh and said how he enjoys his current state away from competitions.

He said, “I quite enjoy my current situation. What I mean is, being a player with an inactive rating, who seldom participates in elite invitationals. I’m enjoying this rare moment of leisure”. He added, “I keep up playing the occasional game online: it doesn't require arduous pre-game preparation, just undivided concentration in the moment. The process itself is rewarding”.

Anatoly wasn’t just about criticisms though. Later in an interview he praised the Indian chess program, and said how the program has been at its absolute best to produce some of the legendary players in the world.

He said, “But if we talk about the overall situation of how Gukesh became world champion, it’s the result of a serious state program for chess in India. I don’t know who advised their leaders, but Indian chess players are already dominating international tournaments”. 

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