Gukesh beats Ding Liren to become world’s youngest ever chess champion

Indian grandmaster Gukesh Dommaraju defeated reigning champion Ding Liren of China on Thursday to become the youngest world chess champion at the age of 18, breaking Garry Kasparov’s longstanding record.

In 1985, Kasparov became the then world champion when he was 22 years old.

The win makes Gukesh, who will earn $1.3 million in prize money, the second Indian to claim the crown after Viswanathan Anand, who has won the title five times.

Gukesh and Ding had begun the World Chess Championship–a series of 14 games held in Singapore and sponsored by Google–on 25 November with near-equal standings, and were mostly neck-and-neck through the series.

Before game 14, Ding and Gukesh were tied with two wins each, with the remaining games played to draws.

It was widely expected the game would be a draw, setting the scene for a round of high-speed games to break the tie before Ding made a blunder in his 55th move that not only cost him the game, but also the match and the crown.

Following the final game, World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen labelled Ding’s fatal mistake “one of the worst blunders we’ve seen in a world championship.”

Despite a chess rating of 2,777 after the latest match, Gukesh will still remain outside the world’s top three by rating. Chess ratings are based on the Elo system, a complicated method for calculating relative skill levels of players based on match outcomes.)

In fact, Gukesh is not even the highest-rated Indian as his 21-year-old compatriot, Arjun Erigaisi, is rated 2,801.

For Gukesh, however, the victory is a childhood dream come true. At the age of 11, in a video clip that has gone viral, he told an interviewer “I want to be the youngest world chess champion.”

Gukesh’s win has put him in the ranks of elite chess champions. He even acknowledged Carlsen’s dominance in the world of chess.

The Norwegian chess grandmaster, who has been the world chess champion since 2013, stepped away from the title in 2022 because of “a lack of motivation.”

After his win Gukesh said, “Becoming the world champion doesn’t mean that I’m the best player in the world, obviously there’s Magnus, so it’s also a motivating factor.”

Congratulatory messages poured in following the win.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted, “Historic and exemplary! Congratulations to Gukesh D on his remarkable accomplishment. This is the result of his unparalleled talent, hard work and unwavering determination. His triumph has not only etched his name in the annals of chess history but has also inspired millions of young minds to dream big and pursue excellence. My best wishes for his future endeavours.”

Sandeep Singhal, who co-founded the WestBridge Anand Chess Academy (WACA) with Viswanathan Anand, expressed pride in sponsoring Gukesh.

“History made that may never be overwritten. At 18 years, D Gukesh became the youngest chess champion and shattered Gary Kasporov’s record by four years. A proud moment for all of us at WestBridge,” Singhal wrote.

“Our association with chess started with founding of WACA with the original legendary world chess champion from India Viswanathan Anand. Gukesh, Pragg, Vaishali and twelve other young chess prodigies of India, all in their teens still, are part of WACA,” he said, adding “The next step was sponsoring Gukesh for the long term (much before he qualified for the candidates). Did not know that this investment in a public good will be our highest returning investment in units of national pride,” Singhal said in a post on LinkedIn.