India, June 6 -- Despite being the World No. 1, Magnus Carlsen pulled out of the previous FIDE World C'ship cycle. The Norwegian pulled out of the ongoing cycle too, and won't be attempting to challenge D Gukesh for the classical World Champion title. Carlsen is a five-time World Champion. Meanwhile, Gukesh became the youngest-ever World Champion last year, beating Ding Liren.

Since becoming World Champion, Gukesh has had a mixed bag of results. He was in dominant form at the Tata Masters, but a late dip in form saw him settle for second position. Meanwhile, his Freestyle Chess run has been poor, and his ongoing Norway Chess campaign has been topsy-turvy.

He began his campaign on a weak note, but then staged a comeback to beat Carlsen a...