Magnus Carlsen has finally addressed swirling speculation about whether he avoids D Gukesh in classical chess. The Norwegian chess legend clarified that his absence from classical tournaments has nothing to do with fear but a personal lack of motivation for the format.

"People online speculate that you are afraid to face Gukesh in classical chess. What do you want to say to people writing that," he was asked on the Taketaketakeapp.

"I think everybody has a lot of respect for him in classical format, but I can tell you for sure that the reason why I am not playing a lot of classical chess is because of the format. I am not motivated enough to play it," Carlsen replied.

"Is Gukesh a worthy world champion?" he was quizzed again.

"Well, he won the Candidates ahead of a field of world beaters. He has done incredibly well in classical chess in the last couple of years, including one of the best performances in the Olympiad. Is he the best player in the world? That remains to be seen. But he is certainly a worthy world champion," explained the 34-year-old in detail while answering the query.

Interestingly, Carlsen had previously commented on Gukesh's performance in several interviews. In 2024, he opined that Gukesh's performance in the Candidates was unexpected. "I didn't expect him to do this well at the Candidates. It's usually a staple of some of the greatest players ever that they show promise at an early age, but then they sort of succeed at the highest level a little bit before people generally expect them to. It's been an amazing story," Carlsen had said.

Even at the World Championship between Gukesh and Ding Liren of China, Carlsen stated that Gukesh was unimpressive in his performance and had, in fact, raised concerns over the quality of the game in the summit clash. According to the Norwegian, the final seemed like a second—or third-round clash of an open tournament. Ultimately, Gukesh emerged as the new World Champion.