when two equally rated players face off the younger one is probably at an advantage because the older one is more reliant on crystallized knowledge and thus more vulnerable to adversarial preparation. Also the younger player may be still improving and underrated.

Karjakin tied magnus in the previous championship, is the same age as magnus, and is still ranked in the top 10, and only suspended from FIDE for 6 months. He's probably underrrated at 7%

Oh i forgot Karjakin got kicked out of FIDE for being a Russian with typical Russian political views -- apparently that wasn't a problem under Stalin or Khrushchev or during the Russian invasion of Afghanistan but all of a sudden we require political uniformity to play chess with each other -- cancel culture came for FIDE. #ReinstateKarjakin

@JonathanRay Karjakin went crazy and was constantly just parroting Russian war propaganda. Almost all other Russian players did not do that and they are still playing.

anyone in the top 5 or born after 2000 and in the top 25 is a strong contender