Indian GM Pravin Thipsay believes D Gukesh can “crush” Uzbekistan’s Javokhir Sindarov when the two face off in the World Championship clash later this year, but only if he can recapture the form that catapulted him to the world title in 2024.

“Gukesh is a very strong player and he is almost unparalleled, compared to Sindarov. However, in 2025, we didn’t really see the best of Gukesh. It was disappointing to see such a perfect player in 2022, 2023, and 2024 make so many mistakes last year. But if he’s able to discover his form from earlier years, he will just crush Sindarov, who has a lot of weaknesses,” Thipsay told mid-day.