Iirc also this new Gukesh champion was only like 15 years old back then, yes he was spotted as an upcoming contender, but at that time there wasn't really any c

Iirc also this new Gukesh champion was only like 15 years old back then, yes he was spotted as an upcoming contender, but at that time there wasn't really any competitor that was close enough, iirc he had soundly beat the same guy twice in a row over in title matches at that point so at that time the competitor pool wasn't really too threatening.