Gukesh will 'crush' Sindarov if he finds form, Uzbek Grandmaster cannot be compared to world champion: Pravin Thipsay

D Gukesh cannot be compared to Javokhir Sindarov and the Indian Grandmaster has everything it takes to "crush" the Uzbekistani challenger in the upcoming World Chess Championship 2026 match, Indian chess veteran Pravin Thipsay believes. Sindarov became the challenger to Gukesh's world chess crown by impressively winning the Fide Candidates 2026.

While Sindarov did not lose a single game at the Candidates, Gukesh of India has been having a difficult time since becoming the world chess champion in December 2024. He has not won any major tournament in this period and finished joint-last at the Prague Masters 2026.

'Gukesh will just crush Sindarov'

Gukesh also recently decided to pull out of a few tournaments to train for the World Championship, but despite his poor form, Indian Grandmaster Thipsay says that Sindarov cannot be compared to Gukesh, who is far ahead as far as their achievements are concerned.

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He added that an in-form Gukesh will always be a favourite against Sindarov.

“Gukesh is a very strong player and he is almost unparalleled compared to Sindarov. However, in 2025, we didn’t really see the best of Gukesh. It was disappointing to see such a perfect player in 2022, 2023, and 2024 make so many mistakes last year. But if he’s able to discover his form from earlier years, he will just crush Sindarov, who has a lot of weaknesses,” Thipsay told Mid-Day.

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Thipsay added that Sindarov’s strength is his opening preparation, but Gukesh is one of the best defensive players and that will work against the Uzbek chess player.

"Sindarov’s opening preparation is very good, he tends to win a lot of his games in the opening phase whereas it is not in Gukesh’s nature to prepare well and win in the opening phase. So, it will be an interesting clash...like [Russian GM Anatoly] Karpov, he [Gukesh] is one of the best players when it comes to defence,” Thipsay added.