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18-Year-Old Gukesh Becomes Youngest-Ever Undisputed Chess World Champion
18-year-old Gukesh Dommaraju is the new chess world champion! Photo: Eng Chin An/FIDE.

18-Year-Old Gukesh Becomes Youngest-Ever Undisputed Chess World Champion

Colin_McGourty
Colin_McGourty
Staff
| 543 | Chess Event Coverage

18-year-old Indian GM Gukesh Dommaraju is the world champion after the defending title holder GM Ding Liren (32) from China collapsed in game 14 of the 2024 FIDE World Championship. Gukesh won 7.5-6.5, taking $1.35 million, after a game where Ding seemed to have a risk-free chance to press for a win but instead liquidated into a pawn-down endgame. It was objectively drawn, but Gukesh kept pushing and Ding blundered as the pressure grew. Gukesh called it "probably the best moment of my life" when he realized he'd fulfilled a childhood dream.  

Final Score

Name Rating 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 Score
  Ding Liren 2728 1 ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 1 ½ 0 6.5
  Gukesh Dommaraju 2783 0 ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 0 ½ 1 7.5
How to rewatch the 2024 FIDE World Championship Game 14
You can watch the 2024 FIDE World Championship live on Chess.com/TV and on the Chess24 Twitch and YouTube channels, while GM Hikaru Nakamura is streaming on Kick. IM Andras Toth is analyzing the games in a Chessable course. 
Rewatch the live broadcast, hosted by GM Peter Leko, GM Daniel Naroditsky, and John Sargent.

GM Rafael Leitao analyzes game 14 of the match below.

Gukesh Beats Ding To Win World Championship

The moment Gukesh became the 18th world champion. Photo: Eng Chin An/FIDE.

The 14th and final classical game of the world championship match in Singapore seemed to be fizzling out into a draw, which would have meant nerve-wracking rapid tiebreaks on Friday. The game had followed many of the patterns we'd seen previously in the match. Gukesh sprang the first surprise in the opening, but after taking his time Ding had reacted well, and after an inaccurate move by his opponent he seemed on the brink of taking over—just as he had when he won game 12.

The scores were level, however, so that Ding felt no need to push for a win at all costs, and instead he gradually went for simplifications. There were multiple ways he could have forced a draw, but he chose a poor path where he gave up a pawn and couldn't immediately kill the action.

There was no question that Gukesh would push, and he revealed afterward that it had been his plan for the match: "My whole strategy was to push as much as possible in every single game with both colors, and it wasn't working till the last moment, but it just takes one game for the strategy to pay off!"

It just takes one game for the strategy to pay off!

—Gukesh Dommaraju

The stark simplicity of chess hides the enormous emotions involved in the game. Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.

The goal looked to be to tire Ding out for tiebreaks, but the endgame was treacherous, and the crucial moment came when Ding applied a strategy that had previously been working—offering a trade of rooks—in a situation where it was a losing move: 55.Rf2??

Neither player realized the mistake immediately, with Gukesh admitting he almost avoided the trade of rooks with 55...Rb3?. Then it dawned on him that he could exchange rooks, followed by bishops on d5, and the pawn endgame would be a simple win. "It was probably the best moment of my life!" he said later about knowing the match was over.

It was probably the best moment of my life!

—Gukesh Dommaraju on spotting the win

Gukesh couldn't keep the joy from shining through on his face. Photo: Eng Chin An/FIDE.

No evaluation bar was needed for his opponent as the smile on the Indian star's face told the whole story. Ding commented: "I was totally in shock when I made a blunder—his facial expression shows that he was very excited, happy."

I was totally in shock when I made a blunder—his facial expression shows that he was very excited, happy.

—Ding Liren

Ding said it took a while to realize what he'd done, though by that point he noted it was "already not so easy to draw." 

Ding Liren had come back so many times before in the match, but this time it was too late. Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.

Ding could have resigned on the spot, but, perhaps feeling the immensity of the moment, he played out a few more moves until a simple win for Black was on the board. Ding extended his hand and India could celebrate a new sporting legend—the second Indian world chess champion after GM Viswanathan Anand, and the youngest universally recognized champion in the history of chess (GM Ruslan Ponomariov won a separate FIDE world title in a knockout tournament in 2002 at a slightly younger age, but not by beating the reigning champion in a match).

The final moments were dramatic.

Like Ding in 2023, Gukesh suddenly couldn't hold back tears.

Gukesh has achieved the dream of a lifetime, at just 18 years old. Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.

But the tears were tears of joy. 

And the Indian crowd went wild. 

Congratulations poured in, from the previous Indian world champion...

...the Indian Prime Minister...

...and many top players.

Meanwhile Ding's reign ended a year after he'd won the title, with the sudden nature of the finish summed up when he noted in the post-game press conference, apropos of nothing, "No game tomorrow." Ding had failed to feel comfortable in himself or show his best during his reign—until now, with the match itself enhancing his reputation. He commented:

I think I played my best tournament of the year. I could be better, but considering yesterday's lucky survival, it's a fair result to lose in the end. I have no regrets!

I have no regrets!

—Ding Liren

A happy, sometimes even confident Ding showing close to his best chess thrilled the chess world. Photo: Eric Rosen/FIDE.

"What an incredible fighter he is!" said Gukesh, saying that he was inspired himself by the way Ding hit back after losing game 11, when "any normal human being would just have given up at that point!" 

Ding came agonizingly close to tiebreaks when his proven skill at faster chess would arguably have made him the favorite. He didn't seem crushed, however, and vowed to continue to play chess. 

Gukesh had many people to thank at the post-game press conference. Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.

For now, though, it's all about Gukesh, who spoke movingly in the press conference about fulfilling a dream he'd had 10 years ago of becoming the chess world champion. He credited his parents, mentioning how they'd struggled financially early on, and God, since he felt his rise to the top, and road to the title, had been miraculous.

He also revealed the identity of his seconds, many of whom were camped in Spain, when it became clear that his main second, GM Grzegorz Gajewski, had only been the tip of a Polish iceberg. He also finally admitted that Anand had joined some sessions and been more than just a well-wishing observer.

"They worked their asses off!" said Gukesh, while also revealing that together with Gajewski he'd promised to bungee jump if they won the title! 

What now? Well, Gukesh isn't planning to sleep tonight, but he's also no longer sure if he'll play in the World Rapid & Blitz Championships in New York between Christmas and New Year.

The sky is the limit. Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.

A rest is hugely deserved, but beyond that Gukesh has greater plans. "I want to have a very long career and stay at the very, very top!" he noted, while pointing out that winning the world championship doesn't yet mean he's the world's best chess player, since GM Magnus Carlsen is out there. "I want to reach the level of greatness that Magnus has achieved," he added.

I want to reach the level of greatness that Magnus has achieved!

—Gukesh Dommaraju

It's going to be spectacular to watch what happens next.

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The 2024 FIDE World Championship in Singapore has decided the next world champion. 18-year-old Indian Challenger Gukesh Dommaraju took on Chinese Defending Champion Ding Liren in a 14-game match, with the first to 7.5 points winning. The players had two hours for 40 moves, then 30 minutes to the end of the game, with 30 seconds added each move from move 41 onwards. The prize fund is $2,500,000, with $200,000 for a win and the remaining money split equally. If tied 7-7, a playoff would have taken place, starting with four games of 15+10 rapid chess.

Previous reports:

Colin_McGourty
Colin McGourty

Colin McGourty led news at Chess24 from its launch until it merged with Chess.com a decade later. An amateur player, he got into chess writing when he set up the website Chess in Translation after previously studying Slavic languages and literature in St. Andrews, Odesa, Oxford, and Krakow.

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