Chess Paradox? Gukesh Struggles While Red-Hot Abdusattorov Is Locked Out of Candidates

When a 19-year-old becomes the youngest World Chess Champion in history, it's reasonable to expect a certain amount of turbulence. But how much turbulence is normal?

Since winning the World Chess Championship 2024, India's new standard-bearer in chess GM Gukesh D hasn’t looked anywhere near the dominant force so many his illustrious predecessors became.

In fact, Gukesh has struggled like no other. Heavy lies the head that wears the crown. He is yet to win another tournament since claiming the title.

Inconsistent form throughout 2025 has been followed by a poor start to 2026 which last week saw him finish joint-last in the 10-player Prague Masters invitational tournament. The world title holder has also dropped out of the world's top 20 players.

At times, it's been painful to watch. Gukesh's results have sunk so low—he's only won three games in three major tournaments so far this year—that they've sparked much talk in chess circles and concern among fans back home in India. Some of it has been harsh.

Gukesh's form has also been in stark contrast to his Gen-Z rival GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov.

The Uzbek star won the London Chess Classic at the end of last year, followed it with victory at the legendary Tata Steel Chess Tournament in Wijk aan Zee, and then capped the run by taking clear first place at the Prague Chess Festival.

That makes Abdusattorov arguably the most in-form player in the world right now.

And yet, here’s the twist.

Despite his extraordinary run, Abdusattorov will not play in the FIDE Candidates Tournament 2026—the event that determines Gukesh's challenger for the world title.

In his column for the Argentine newspaper La Nacion, GM Pablo Ricardi, argues that one fact exposes a structural oddity in the championship cycle.

He wrote: "In the Prague Masters tournament, which just concluded, Gukesh hit rock bottom. Literally, because he finished last in a closed tournament of ten players.

"A performance unworthy of a world champion. One would have to delve deep into the archives to find a similar precedent, if one exists at all. It's clear he needs to regroup and start fresh, to regain his composure and positive energy.

"He can't have forgotten how to play well. This very month of March, the Candidates Tournament will begin in Cyprus, which will determine the challenger Gukesh will have to face to defend his title.

"Winning the match against whoever his challenger becomes—that has to be his objective; that match is both the purge and the cure for his current predicament.

According to Ricardi, the other side of the coin is represented by the current best player, Abdusattorov.

"Last year he failed to qualify for the Candidates Tournament, so he won't be among the eight candidates in Cyprus, even though, as we said, he is the best player at the moment, with all due respect to Carlsen."

And this is the crux: "Thus, a paradox emerges," Ricardi explained. "The World Champion does not live up to the level of his title, and the one playing best today cannot even compete for the right to become a challenger."

Ricardi believes the sport might benefit from a more dynamic approach—one that allows the battle for the crown to react faster to current form.

"What Bobby Fischer promised but didn't deliver—defending the world title three times a year—could be an option. Even twice a year would be more than enough to have an active, proven, and genuine champion."

The last part would be as controversial now as it was back in the 70s. But it may represent, along with the recent popularisation of Fischer Random, aka Freestyle, yet another area of chess thinking where Fischer was ahead of his time.

Happy birthday to the troubled late chess genius whose birthday was on March 9.