Indian teenager Gukesh Dommaraju became the youngest ever World Chess Champion on defeating China’s Ding Liren in Singapore. An 18-year-old from Chennai, the youngster took home the title of the best-of-14-games of World Chess Championship, winning in the thrilling final game with 7½-6½ points.
The decisive moment came in Game 14, when under pressure Ding committed an expensive blunder with the rook move 55 Rf2?? – which lost him a trapped bishop. Although Gukesh initially didn’t notice the blunder, he immediately understood the importance of the mistake and seized the opportunity. The game took over four hours with a total of 58 moves, and Ding resigned, which brought Gukesh the status of the youngest chess champion of the world ever recorded. It broke Garry Kasparov’s record of 1985 which he held when won the title at age 22.
It was a very remarkable win in a tournament that had already seen many twists. Ding was considered an underdog, but he had held his ground in the match and even won Game 1 with black. The match had already seen several drawn games, and Gukesh had won Game 3 and Game 11. As the match was reaching its end, the tiebreaker was just around the corner, but determination and skill helped Gukesh win.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was not late in congratulating Gukesh as his achievement was historical and exemplary. Overwhelmed with emotion, Gukesh said he did not think he would win from that position in the final game, so it made the victory even sweeter. He has a journey of ten years of playing chess, and he waited for this moment since he was six years old. In the history of World Chess Championship, Gukesh becomes only the second Indian to win the prestigious crown after Viswanathan Anand.
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