Indian chess star D Gukesh has revealed that Magnus Carlsen’s long-held No 1 ranking is a target for him as he picked R Praggnanandhaa as preferred challenger.
Chess world champion D Gukesh of India has his eyes set on Magnus Carlsen’s world No 1 ranking as he also discussed the FIDE Candidates 2026 participants, one of whom would be challenging him in the World Chess Championship match next year. Gukesh climbed to a career-best world No 3 in February this year, months after becoming the world champion.
But the 18-year-old Chennai Grandmaster has been facing a tough time recently,
dropping to 10th spot, his worst since beating Ding Liren last December in the World Chess Championship.
Nonetheless, Gukesh’s biggest strength is doggedness and the ability to bounce back from tough situations. It’s the same tenacity that helped him become the youngest world champion late last year or beat Carlsen
for the first time in Classical chess earlier this year in Norway.
Gukesh plans to dethrone Carlsen from No 1 ranking
The youngster now has the world No 1 ranking in his sight, something that Carlsen has held since July 2011. The highest-rated player of all time, Carlsen, has made a world record being the No 1 in chess for over 14 years.
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Gukesh spoke about his desire to become the next world No 1 during an ‘Ask Me Anything’ session on social media (X). One of the users asked Gukesh if he thinks he “will be world No 1?”
Gukesh replied that he is ready to give his “absolute” best to dethrone Carlsen. “I know I will give my absolute best for it but whether or not it happens I would be happy with the effort I put in,” he wrote on X.
I know I will give my absolute best for it but whether or not it happens I would be happy with the effort I put in😃 https://t.co/n91jmJ0u0J
— Gukesh D (@DGukesh) December 5, 2025
Meanwhile, Gukesh was also asked which player from the FIDE Candidates 2026 he would want to face in the World Chess Championship.
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The winner of Candidates will be the challenger for the world title. So far, Fabiano Caruana, Anish Giri, Matthias Blübaum, Javokhir Sindarov, Wei Yi and Andrey Esipenko have already qualified for the tournament, while R Praggnanandhaa and Hikaru Nakamura are the favourites to clinch the last two spots.
Asked to pick one from the possible eight challengers, Gukesh went with his compatriot Praggnanandhaa.
Pragg!
— Gukesh D (@DGukesh) December 5, 2025
The 20-year-old Praggnanandhaa, who also hails from Chennai, recently finished as
joint winner at the London Chess Classic 2025 Open.
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