Chennai teenager Gukesh is youngest world chess champion

History was made on the small island of Sentosa in Singapore, as D. Gukesh became the youngest world chess champion ever after defeating Ding Liren of China in the final game of their match.

The 18-year-old from Chennai broke the record held by the Russian Garry Kasparov for nearly four decades.

With his victory against the defending champion, which came after 58 moves, Gukesh took his points tally to 7.5 points. That was the requirement for a player to win the World title. If the 14th game had ended in a draw, a series of tie-breaker speed chess games were scheduled to be played on Friday (Dec. 13, 2024).

The game was heading towards a draw until Ding made a fatal error on the 55th move with his rook. There was no coming back for the Chinese Grandmaster after that.

This was the first-ever World Championship match contested by two Asian countries. And it was a match between the players from India and China, the world’s two most populous countries and the continent’s superpowers.

Gukesh is the only third Asian to have won the World championship. Viswanathan Anand, now a mentor for Gukesh, was the first, and Ding the second.

Gukesh is also the only 18th World champion in history, dating back to 1886. That there have been only 17 undisputed World champions before him puts into perspective the enormity of the achievement.

His campaign had begun on the wrong foot, though. He lost the first game despite having white pieces (which are usually considered slightly advantageous).

The second game was drawn, and Gukesh won the third to equalize the match at 1.5-1.5.