“I think if Hikaru or Fabi (Caruana) — or probably Nepo (Ian Nepomniachtchi) for that matter — win the Candidates they would be, at the moment, they would be a favorite in a match against Gukesh. Hikaru’s come close twice. He’s still extremely good so there’s no reason why he couldn’t, Carlsen told Chess24 in an interview.

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Carlsen has excused himself from the race to earn a shot at the world champion’s crown. He won the world championship five times without losing once, starting from 2013, but then walked away from the throne without fighting for it.

ALSO READ: Magnus Carlsen says loss to Gukesh ended his dream of playing really good tournament

Since he left, Ding Liren and Gukesh have claimed the crown. Now Carlsen believes that his contemporaries like Nakamura, Caruana and Nepomniachtchi will be favourites against Gukesh.

In one of the only tournaments he plays in classical chess — Norway Chess — Carlsen finds himself one game away from winning the title after Thursday’s round 9. His closest competitor is Gukesh, who beat Carlsen recently which led to the irate World No 1 to smash the table in anger. Carlsen had since apologised but the incident has made headlines globally.

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On Friday, Carlsen plays another member of India’s golden generation, Arjun Erigaisi.

“Arjun will always want to fight. So I am prepared for a fight for sure,” Carlsen told Chess24.

When asked how he was going to prepare for game against Arjun, Carlsen said: “It’s hard to say. Playing Arjun is a little bit like playing even Ivanchuk back in the day. It’s just somebody who doesn’t really play for a lot of draws. Just is out to get you. So playing with black, I’m sure we’ll get some sort of complicated game and I’ll try and do my best from there.”