Chennai lad Gukesh crowned youngest-ever World Chess Champion
First Indian to win title since Anand in 2012; puts city back on global chess map
Gukesh rejoices after becoming the first teen world champion in chess, on December 12, 2024. (Screengrab/X)
CHENNAI: Homeboy Gukesh Dommaraju defeated Ding Liren in a nail-biting final round on Thursday to become the youngest World Chess Champion.
Gukesh is the first Indian to win the top prize since Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand in 2012, and his victory on Thursday once again puts the city and state on the global chess map.
The Chennai lad had tears in his eyes after Liren's blunder on the 55th move, following which Liren resigned. Gukesh, usually known for not expressing much, couldn't control his outburst of joy as he celebrated the realisation of his childhood dream.
"I'm just living my dream," said Gukesh to reporters after the match.
Heading into the 14th round classical match, Gukesh secured the required 7.5 points, compared to Liren's 6.5, after winning the final classical game of the 14-match series. Liren blundered in the relatively balanced rook-and-bishop endgame.
Gukesh entered the World Championship as its youngest-ever challenger after winning the Candidates earlier this year.
Around the same time last December, at the Chennai Grandmasters tournament, Gukesh won the tiebreaker over Grandmaster Arjun Erigaisi after the seventh round, boosting his chances of qualifying for the Candidates. This was just the beginning, as Gukesh went on to become the youngest player in history to win the Candidates in April, earlier this year, at the age of 17. Gukesh was also the third-youngest Grandmaster in the world when he attained the norm at the age of 12.
The World Number 5 entered the World Championship after making history by winning an individual gold medal as India's men’s and women’s teams made history by bagging the top prize at the 45th International Chess Olympiad in Budapest. Gukesh had a performance rating of 9/10 on board one, and he also had the highest performance rating in that tournament.
Before Gukesh's achievement on Thursday, Garry Kasparov of Russia held the record as the youngest world champion, having won the title at 22 by defeating Anatoly Karpov in 1985.