Ruslan ponomariov

Junior World Champion Soumya Swaminathan: Chess legend Garry Kasparov has stirred the ho0rnet's nest by claiming that he does not consider the upcoming title clash between D. Gukesh of India and reigning champion Ding Liren as a real World Championship Match. Indian Grandmaster Pravin Thipsay agrees with him but says the Chinese GM is the reason for that as he is not considered World Champion material by many chess fans and thus has not earned respect despite winning the title.

"For me, a World Championship match was always a match for the title of the best player in the world," Kasparov said recently.

Thipsay agreed and said that the debate would continue till the best player in the world kept away from it and also because a few players that had won the World Championship title did not earn the respect of the chess community. He compared Ding Liren with Alexander Khalifman and Ruslan Ponomariov, who won the FIDE Knockout World Championship titles between 1999 and 2004 when the title was fractured but did not earn respect.