YEREVAN, JANUARY 15, ARMENPRESS: The new world chess champion Magnus Carlsen believes that the favorites of the Candidates Tournament, to be held in March, are the Armenian GM Levon Aronian and the Russian GM Vladimir Kramnik. The Norwegian told about it to Armenpress in his exclusive comment to the news agency.

“The favorites of the Candidates Tournament are probably Aronian and Kramnik, but It's difficult to predict. For me the most important thing is to try to improve as a player. It's for the others to fight to become the most serious competitor,” Carlsen stated.

To the question – how the new world champion feels to be the youngest title holder – Carlsen answered frankly and directly: “It felt good, and I'm of course very happy to have become WC.”

We saw several times chess players, after becoming the World Champions, reduce participation in international tournaments. Notwithstanding, Magnus Carlsen does not share their standpoint. In particular, Magnus Carlsen underscored: "I plan to continue to play tournaments as I think that's both fun and important to maintain my strength."