Caruana refuses to write off Gukesh ahead of Sindarov showdown: 'Do we really assume he's just finished?'

Fabiano Caruana has shared his views on the upcoming World Chess Championship clash between Dommaraju Gukesh and Javokhir Sindarov, saying that it would be wrong to write off the 19-year-old Indian GM despite his recent dip in form.

Sindarov booked his place in the World Championship match after winning the 2026 FIDE Candidates Tournament in a dominant fashion in Cyprus earlier this month. Many senior players and experts have since predicted that he will have the edge going into the contest against Gukesh.

Even five-time champion and the world No. 1 player Magnus Carlsen has backed the Uzbek star to win the title later this year, calling him a more well-rounded player at the moment and saying that Gukesh has weaknesses.

Caruana backs Gukesh, but gives Sindarov a slight edge

However, Caruana believes the match will be much closer than many expect. Speaking on the C-Squared podcast, he said that Gukesh has already shown his ability to bounce back from tough situations in the past. He added that while Sindarov’s current form is impressive, it is not guaranteed that he will maintain the same level in the coming months.

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"It’s very easy to just say Sindarov is going to win, but Gukesh has had tournaments like this—the Olympiad, the Candidates, he’s won tournaments! Do we really assume that a 19-year-old is just done? Like he had a bad period and he’s just finished? I see no reason why Gukesh cannot recover and then the question is, ‘Is Sindarov going to be in as good form as here?’ If he is, then yeah, probably nobody’s stopping him," Caruana said.

"So I’m predicting a close match, actually pretty close to balanced. Gukesh also has experience, he’ll prepare, he’ll think about his approach. If he doesn’t get too unconfident… It’ll be good for him to have some good results at some point, that’ll give him some confidence. We’ll see Sindarov’s form in the Grand Chess Tour, since he’s playing that. It’s very ironic that he replaced Gukesh in the Grand Chess Tour. I don’t know if it was a good decision by Gukesh, but we’ll see. Prediction is slight money on Sindarov, maybe 55-45," he added.

Meanwhile, Gukesh has taken a break from long-format chess to focus more on training ahead of the world championship game. After a poor show at the Prague Masters in March, he announced a break from chess and said he would only play shorter games for now.