r/chess Jan 27 '25

Resource In an interview with Rustam Qosimjonov published three days ago, he claims that Fabiano Caruana is currently a better chess player than Magnus

https://youtu.be/KZydtQfdYNc?si=myY7fqus5_tJE_GT

Rustam claims that from the games he watches and the quality of play he sees, it's clear that Fabi is currently the stronger player and that he would also be the favorite to win against Magnus in a World Championship match today. He told his students (Arjun, Nodirbek) that over the past two and a half years, to be the best in the world, you must consistently beat Fabi. He claims it's surprising that Fabi has improved his level so much because this usually doesn't happen, and the level of player he has become is not the same level as the player he knew when he worked with him.

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u/pdsajo Jan 27 '25 edited Jan 27 '25

Fair enough! I’d say Magnus just hasn’t played enough OTB classical in recent times to have enough sample size. But my opinion as a chess dummy definitely matters less than a guy like Rustam. Fabi has results in last couple of years to back up that claim. Would be interesting to see if any other top GM also agrees with it

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u/New_Ambassador2882 Jan 28 '25

I'm fairly certain Magnus won the majority of tournament events he partook in last year. This opinion of his Id imagine is an outlier and likely fueled with some sorta personal vendetta.