Gukesh Dommaraju, an 18-year-old Indian youngster, stunned the world chess community on Thursday. He became the youngest world champion.
The prodigy from Chennai emerged victorious in a thrilling match held in Singapore. He started as the challenger and defeated China’s Ding Liren, the reigning champion. The prize pool for the FIDE World Chess Championship is $2.5 million (£1.96 million).
It was his best moment in a long line of accomplishments and the pinnacle of his career to date.
At the age of twelve years and seven months, Gukesh rose to the rank of grandmaster. He was also open about his desire to win the world championship.
He claimed to have had such aspirations since he was seven years old when he saw Viswanathan Anand and Magnus Carlsen compete for the World Title in 2013.
He simply didn’t anticipate it happening so quickly, he admitted during the press conference after his thrilling victory over Ding.
Following the victory, Gukesh told the BBC
“Throughout the match, I had several chances to clinch victories and many of the games which would have put me on the front foot quite seriously. But once I was getting close I was getting nervous and I was not able to finish him off,”.
“…And then all of a sudden…it was a sudden change and I could not process all the new information so quickly.”
Since Wilhelm Steinitz won what is regarded as the first title match back in 1886, Gukesh has become the 18th world champion.
Gukesh, who was born in May 2006, is also the youngest player to reach this level.
He easily surpassed the previous record set by Garry Kasparov (born April 1963), who defeated Anatoly Karpov to win the title in Moscow in November 1985 at the age of 22.
After 13 games, the 14-game match was level with two victories apiece. The 14th game appeared to be headed for a draw.
