Russian chess legend Garry Kasparov doesn’t consider the upcoming World Championship match between India’s D Gukesh and China’s Ding Liren as a contest between the world’s top two players in the absence of five-time champion Magnus Carlsen.

Kasparov believes with Carlsen, who hails from Norway, opting out of defending his title last year, the long line of world champions has come to an end. “My hottest take is I don’t treat this as a World Championship match. For me, a World Championship match was always a match for the title of the best player in the world,” Kasparov said on a YouTube show for the St Louis Chess Club.