Opinion: Is Gukesh The Leader Now? Evaluation of the Top 3 FIDE Rated.

Gukesh Dommaraju has made many accomplishments over the years. The 18-year-old Chess prodigy has recently achieved the title of "World Chess Champion" after defeating super Grandmaster Ding Liren in a 14-game thriller. But does this now make him the best in the world compared to other "greats" such as Hikaru Nakamura and Magnus Carlsen?

Section 1: Strengths and Weaknesses

Is Time Control a Key Factor In Determining This?

Believe it or not, I think it does!

Each Grandmaster seems to have their strengths and weaknesses on the Chessboard. These strengths and weaknesses are highly dependent on what time control the game is in. As we can see super Grandmaster, Hikaru Nakamura seems to strive in lower time controls, whether that be over the board or online. Some of Hikaru's most famous clips come from him playing blitz and bullet with other grandmasters. Another thing that can help us identify people's strong time controls is how they do in tournaments with those time controls. Hikaru has always been on the top of the Titled Tuesday leaderboard, which is an online tournament that takes place every Tuesday that consists of the strongest (titled) players in the world under the time control of 3 +2. 

For Gukesh on the other hand, seems to strive in longer time controls. Recently we saw Gukesh get second place at Tata Steel Chess 2025 after losing to Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu in Armageddon. We have also seen in the past Gukesh folding under time pressure. Despite his weakness over shorter time controls, he has greater strength, and control in the longer game. Gukesh has also made some of the best moves of his career in longer time controls when he can take his time and calculate. Because then again, Chess is not an easy sport to play at Grandmaster level.

Magnus Carlsen seems to be a special person in this scenario. He doesn't seem to slack off on the chess board regardless of the time on his clock or whether he is playing online or not (surprisingly even when he, the GOAT is drunk!). 

Vision... and Accuracy?

When you reach the grandmaster level in Chess, vision is a key factor in your gameplay. If you don't see the whole Chess board and all possible moves that can be played, I don't know how you became a grandmaster (Someone ought to complain to FIDE). For accuracy we see most games at GM level high with an accuracy reaching as high as the 90s in 40+ move games due to their high calculation level, It usually depends on your opponents gameplay and vision to determine your accuracy. Because of this, I feel all grandmasters have about equal vision and accuracy.

What About Their Records Against Each Other?

All three of these magnificent players have played and won, lost, and drawn each other multiple times (a LOT of drawing). At their level, it is hard to not draw a game unless their opponent makes a mistake, and that is quite understandable since they are so good at what they do. Recently Magnus Defeated Gukesh and Hikaru in the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam taking place in Weissenhaus. Although it wasn't a classical game, and Chess 960, it is still a big thing for Magnus to defeat the other top 2 on the FIDE leaderboard. In round 2 we saw Hikaru and Gukesh fighting it out into a draw. Do you think this should count toward their record(s) since it is Chess 960 and not classical? I think it should since I feel Chess 960 builds upon what we know about the game and helps our creative minds take charge. I think Magnus gets this one...

Summary of Section 1: 

After tallying up the points I conclude that Magnus is still at the top of his game since he is still highest rated in the world.

Section 2: Hands-on Rating Comparison 

What's up with their Chess.com Ratings? How are they similar or different?

All of these magnificent grandmasters have their very own Chess.com profiles just like you and me! Hikaru and Magnus play a lot of chess on Chess.com, while Gukesh... doesn't. Gukesh's last game was over 2 years ago. In an interview Gukesh clearly stated that he does not like to play chess online very much and prefers to take a more physical approach to improving his chess causing his rating to be slightly lower for the 3rd best in the world compared to Maguns and Hikaru.

Magnus's Profile: https://www.chess.com/member/magnuscarlsen

Hikaru's Profile: https://www.chess.com/member/hikaru

Gukesh's Profile: https://www.chess.com/member/gukeshdommaraju

Based on what we see above Hikaru has the best rating(s) compared to the other 2 super grandmasters proving my point earlier of Hikaru's strength being playing online as well as the Blitz and Bullet time controls. Hikaru gets this one.

Currently,

Magnus has 10 pts

Hikaru has 9 pts 

Gukesh still has 7 pts

What About FIDE Rating?

According to FIDE Magnus Carlsen is still at the top of the food chain with 2833, Hikaru trailing with 2802, Gukesh not far behind at 2787. 

This makes Gukesh the youngest, yet 3rd highest-rated individual. 

+ 3 pts Magnus for being Highest 

+ 2 pts Hikaru for being 2nd

+ 1 pt Gukesh for being 3rd

World Championships and When They Got Their Title

The last thing we will be looking at today is how many world championships these players have won.

Magnus has the most. He was the world champion FIVE times. Gukesh has only been world champion once (2024/2025) while, sadly, Hikaru never made it to the world championships. 

+5 pts Magnus

+1 pt Gukesh 

Magnus, Hikauru, and Gukesh are all amazing players. I believe the last thing we have to look at is what age they became a grandmaster to determine who (will) has more experience at that level. Hikaru became a grandmaster at age 15, Magnus at age 13, and Gukesh at age 12. These are extraordinary feats! Based on this,

+1 pt Hikaru 

+2 pts Magnus 

+3 pts Gukesh 

Summary of Section 2 (And the whole blog):

After Tallying up all the points:

Magnus has 20 points

Hikaru has 12 points 

Gukesh has 13 points

Magnus has the most points. Though this data may be incorrect. There are many other (minor) key factors that can affect this point system created by me, such as more in-depth analysis of their vision and accuracy and how many championships each player has won. But when you look at the broad point of view and analyze all the key factors that we analyzed and ones that are easier to Identify, you conclude that Magnus Carlsen is still the best player in the world... but I could be missing something. What do you think?

What About Hikaru And Gukesh?

More things that can raise Hikaru's score that I may be missing. Hikaru Nakamura is still a brilliant player and I enjoy his streams. The point system was merely just to represent who is the better, but that doesn't mean that Hikaru is the worst. Go watch one of his streams and you will see what I mean. 

Gukesh is still young. He has a lot to learn and will learn in the years to come. Experience is a key factor in Chess and experience comes with age. Compared to Hikaru and Magnus, Gukesh is still a kid. We will see what other things Gukesh shall achieve in the future. 

I think the reason Magnus Carlsen has the most points and the greatest lead is because of all of the things he has achieved. Just because he has achieved more, doesn't mean that he is much better than the "Great Hikaru Nakamura". Whenever these two play they never disappoint. This is truly an amazing rivalry that shall be treasured for centuries to come.