Which is why, I said over the span of 14 games. Yes, he can lose an odd game here and there.
Magnus is the greatest end game player of all time. He can grind out a dead draw position into a win by eeking small advantages over dozens of moves.
Supporting Gukesh is good but I'm seeing some serious delusions on Twitter from certain idiots like below
View: https://x.com/GabbbarSingh/status/1865762101429690555
it is for now, but Magnus is not undefeatable in the long run by someone like Gukesh, at least in the classical format. In fact, magnus has come out and said what i believe is actually true of Gukesh - he is the best calculator in the game - he calculates angles and lines live in game better than anyone and that is why he is such a strong classical player in such a short period of time. However, he is a bit of an odd-ball in chess, in terms of being a lot less consistent in the shorter versions of the game, mostly attributed to lacking 'elite instincts' in chess. Which is fine.
Ultimately, rapids & blitz are like the T20s of Chess and it doesnt interest the main body of recreational players ( even at master levels for eg) - the faster versions of chess relies on solid technique, rote memory and such to even get started, because the game is just too fast for anyone to calculate even 4 deep for every move.
In classical chess, one has the luxury of learning an attacking line partway - like say Queen's gambit accepted, up to 7-8 deep and then just wing it and figure it out with the advantages gained and grind out a win by out-thinking your opponent.
So i will say that Gukesh is probably actually one of the likelier guys to go on and take down Magnus in the near future in the classical version - though not sure if he will attain such a huge ELO rating like magnus because tht would require being undefeated for like a 7-8 year period.
Chess is getting more and more competitive in the middle ranks, with far more 2600+ players than ever before, affecting ELO ranks to get to the upper levels etc. and 2800+ guy can lose to a 2600+ guy on his bad days quite easily, with the sheer ranks being filled with them making long undefeated runs more and more unlikely.
We shall see, Gukesh is afterall only 18, which is still child prodigy level more than an established master, this can go a lot of ways in the future. The world is currently Gukesh's oyester and let him just soak it in for a bit.
Overall, i would say that Gukesh's reign as world champ depends a lot on the format, if FIDE continues the moronic format of 'lets decide classical champion by non classical format after 14 classical games', then Gukesh will always be under pressure to deliver in the classical format itself and lead to matches like this and maybe he even gets crushed by Magnus if Magnus ever changes his mind and plays.
But if FIDE wakes up and reverts the format out of the rapids tie break format, Gukesh actually has a good shot at a long reign, because his mental prep is very suited to the long format.
You could see it in his meticulousness in the winning moments - he instantly realized that he is winning and will be world champ, then composed his excitement and forced himself to STILL work out all the angles and do his homework before closing out the game.
Either way, the man will be a beast if he doesn't get burntout in the long format.
