Kasparov feels that Gukesh can't even be called the strongest player in the world, as he is not even better than Magnus Carlsen yet. The chess legend also feels that Gukesh hasn't proved his superiority over players of his own age, too, and used his defeat to R Praggnanandhaa in the first round of the Sinquefield Cup as an example.
Kasparov also added that Gukesh could not be compared to the likes of him, Carlsen, Anatoly Karpov or Bobby Fischer.
Responding to Kasparov's criticism, Susan Polgar defended Gukesh and said that he deserved to be the current 'World Classical Champion.
Taking to X, she wrote, "Gukesh is a deserving World Classical Champion, period! He went through the FIDE Candidates as an 18-year-old, the youngest in the tournament, and came out ahead of big stars like Fabiano Caruana, Hikaru Nakamura, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Alireza Firouzja, and Pragg, etc. It was not his fault that Magnus Carlsen walked away from his title. If we, as a chess community, delegitimise his title because he did not beat Carlsen, then we need to do the same for World Champions after Bobby Fischer, since he also walked away from his title! We can not have different standards for players we like or dislike."
Gukesh is the youngest-ever world champion in history, and he is also the youngest player to cross a FIDE rating of 2750, which he did at the age of 17, and also the third-youngest to get past 2700 Elo, which he did at the age of 16. He became a Grandmaster at the age of 12. He qualified for the World C'ship match vs Ding Liren after winning the Candidates Tournament.