Fabiano Caruana has shared his prediction ahead of the World Championship clash between D Gukesh and Javokhir Sindarov.
While he gave Sindarov a slight edge, Caruana still believes that writing off Gukesh would be a big mistake.
The Gukesh vs Sindarov match will take place in November-December and will likely last for 25 days.
Image: GCTFabiano Caruana believes the upcoming World Championship clash between D Gukesh and Javokhir Sindarov will be much closer than many people expect, even though Sindarov is currently seen as the favourite.
So, I’m predicting a close match like actually pretty close to balanced,” Caruana explained.
Fabiano Caruana has shared his prediction ahead of the World Championship clash between D Gukesh and Javokhir Sindarov. While he gave Sindarov a slight edge, Caruana still believes that writing off Gukesh would be a big mistake.
The Gukesh vs Sindarov match will take place in November-December and will likely last for 25 days. Image: GCT
Fabiano Caruana believes the upcoming World Championship clash between D Gukesh and Javokhir Sindarov will be much closer than many people expect, even though Sindarov is currently seen as the favourite.
Speaking on the C-Squared podcast, Caruana said many people are too quick to doubt Gukesh after his recent dip in form. The Italian-American Grandmaster pointed out that Gukesh has already shown in the past that he can bounce back strongly from difficult periods.
“It’s very easy to just say Sindarov is going to win. But Gukesh has had tournaments like this before. He won the Olympiad, the Candidates, and many big tournaments. Do we really assume that a 19-year-old is just finished because he had a bad period?” Caruana said.
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Caruana backs Gukesh, but bets his money on Sindarov
Gukesh became the youngest World Champion in history in 2024, but his performances after winning the title have not been very consistent. His recent struggles have raised questions about whether he can continue dominating at the highest level. The Indian star even decided to take a break from classical chess in order to focus more on training before the World Championship match.
However, Caruana feels that writing off Gukesh completely would be a mistake. He also reminded fans that many people had doubted Ding Liren before his World Championship match against Gukesh, yet the contest still turned out to be very close.
“Usually nobody like runs away with it. Sometimes happens, but most of the time it’s like even again when Gukesh played Ding and everyone thought, ‘Okay, Ding is finished.’ And it was still a close match. So, I’m predicting a close match like actually pretty close to balanced,” Caruana explained.
At the same time, Caruana admitted that Sindarov’s current form is extremely impressive. The Uzbek Grandmaster earned huge praise after his outstanding performance at the 2026 FIDE Candidates Tournament, where he qualified to challenge Gukesh for the world title.
“I really just don’t see it. I mean, Gukesh also has experience. He’ll prepare. He’ll think about his approach. I mean, if he doesn’t get too underconfident, hope it’ll be good for him to have some good results at some point that give him some confidence and before the win. But my prediction is slight money on Sindarov. Maybe 55-45,” he said.
The rivalry between Gukesh and Sindarov has already become one of the biggest talking points in chess. Recently, they faced each other at the Grand Chess Tour: Super Rapid and Blitz Poland 2026 event. Gukesh won their rapid game, while Sindarov defeated him twice in blitz games.
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