India’s Gukesh made history on Thursday by becoming the youngest-ever World Champion in chess, beating Ding Liren of China in the 14-game match, here.
The 18-year-old from Chennai capitalised on a blunder by Ding in the winner-takes-all 14th game to dethrone the champion, winning the match 7.5 to 6.5 and becoming only the second Indian to win the World Chess Champion.
By beating Ding, Gukesh became the 18th World Champion in the over century-long history of chess and the youngest after beating Garry Kasparov’s record of winning the title at the age of 22 and heralding the arrival of a new king on the chess horizon.
Gukesh is the second Indian to win the World Chess Championship title, claiming the title in just over a decade after five-time Champion Viswanathan Anand had lost the title to Magnus Carlsen of Norway in Chennai in 2013. Carlsen has abdicated the crown in 2023, paving the way for Ding to beat Ian Nepomniachtchi.
In a winner-takes-all 14th and final game of the World Chess Championship match Ding had steered towards a draw after starting with Reversed Grunfeld variation of Zukertort Opening, the 32-year-old from China made a sensational blunder.
In an unexpected turn of events, when it seemed that the final game was going to end in a draw and the tiebreaks were unavoidable, the champion made a huge mistake, making a rook move that resulted in his bishop getting pinned in a rook-pawn ending with both players having one bishop.
Having battled it out for 13 games over three weeks, Ding was looking forward to the rapid and blitz tiebreakers as had effectively countered the aggressive tactics of the young Indian challenger to steer the game towards a drawish position.
“I was totally in shock when I realised I made a blunder,” Ding explained in the post-game press conference.
Gukesh couldn’t believe his eyes when Ding Liren blundered 55.Rf2: “At the first moment I didn’t see that I was winning. When I realised that I was winning it was the best moment of my life.”
It was so sudden that Gukesh initially did not see it and then nearly leapt out of his chair, took a pause, settled his nerves, exchanged the rook and bishop and Ding was forced to resign in 58 moves.
After the game, Gukesh’s emotions spilled over as he came to terms with his monumental achievement. In an attempt to control his emotions, he put all the chess pieces back on the board, prayed and only then got up to greet his fans and family.
🇮🇳 Gukesh D 🥹
Ladies and gentlemen, the 18th WORLD CHAMPION! #DingGukesh pic.twitter.com/CgzYBgeTfq— International Chess Federation (@FIDE_chess) December 12, 2024
“I have been dreaming of this for the last 10-12 years since I started playing chess and the only way to explain this is that I am living my dream. Firstly, thankfully to God as I am living a miracle and it could be possible only because of God,” said Gukesh, who praised Ding Liren for the fight he put in this match despite not being in great physical condition.
“My parents are both sports lovers but could not pursue their dreams. So, they decided that they would do their best to help me chase my dream in whichever field I chose. We do not come from a very well-off family so they had to make a lot of sacrifices to help me in his journey,” said Gukesh during the post-match press conference.
Born in a Telugu-speaking family in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, Gukesh learned chess from his cousins at the age of seven and was soon beating those who taught him the game.
Overshadowed initially by the likes of Nihal Sarin and R Praggnanandhaa, Gukesh made history by winning an individual gold medal for India in the 2022 Olympiad in Chennai, finishing with a score of 9 out of 11 as India-2 won a bronze medal.
He has since shot up in the FIDE rating, moving into the top five in the World and now has become the youngest World Champion.
Gukesh eventually qualified for the Candidates Tournament which is the qualifying event for the World Championship final and won a miraculous victory in the Chennai Grandmaster Tournament.
This completes a remarkable and magical journey for Gukesh who watched the Indian chess legend Viswanathan Anand lose the World Chess Championship in their hometown Chennai to Magnus Carlsen of Norway in 2013.
“When I was watching the match in 2013, I was in the stands, I was looking inside the glass box and I thought it would be so cool to be inside one day. And then when Magnus won, I thought, I really want to be the one to bring back the title to India.”
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Ding himself reflected on the loss with grace, saying, “I think I played my best tournament of the year. It could be better, but considering yesterday’s lucky survival, it’s a fair result to lose in the end. I have no regrets.” He also clarified that retirement was not on his mind, promising to continue competing at the highest level.
With this win, Gukesh pocketed prize money of $1.35 million (approx Rs 11.45 crore) while Ding Liren took $1.15 million (approx Rs 9.75 crore) from the total prize fund of US$2.5 million.
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