INDIAN chess player Gukesh Dommaraju made history on Thursday when he became the youngest world champion at the age of 18, after defeating China’s Ding Liren in the FIDE World Chess Championship match held in Singapore.
Gukesh won 7.5-6.5, taking the prize money of $2.5 million.
At first, the last game seemed to be headed for a draw, in which case, rapid chess tiebreaks (or chess played in shorter time controls) would be played. But Ding collapsed on move 55, which Gukesh exploited to claim the victory point.
The chess prodigy broke into tears when his victory was confirmed. Gukesh, whose childhood dream was to become a world chess champion, described the event as “probably the best moment of my life”. He was an accomplished player even before clinching the title, winning gold medals in the last two Olympiad, leading India to bronze in 2022 and gold in 2024.
But things really started rolling after his success in the Candidates, which earned him the spot to challenge the World Champion.
Yet the Championship game wasn’t an easy road. Gukesh lost his first game, and only caught up during the third game when he scored a win. When he took the win in Game 11, Ding quickly equalized during Game 12.
Gukesh has been a chess player since he was around 10 years old, and was mentored by Viswanathan Anand, a former five-time world champion himself.
Gukesh is the 18th FIDE World Chess Champion.
