How the Indian teenager turned youngest world chess champion

Indian teenager Gukesh Dommaraju shocked the world of chess on Thursday when he turned the youngest world champion on the age of simply 18.

The Chennai-born prodigy defeated defending champion, China’s Ding Liren, in a dramatic match staged in Singapore which he had entered because the challenger. The FIDE World Chess Championship carries a $2.5m (£1.96m) prize fund.

It marked the height so far of his profession, his biggest second in a protracted string of achievements.

Gukesh turned a grandmaster aged 12 years and 7 months and even then, he was upfront about the truth that he dreamt of being the world champion.

In reality, he mentioned he had harboured such ambitions since he was seven when he was a spectator at a World Title match between Viswanathan Anand and Magnus Carlsen in 2013.

As he confessed on the press convention following his dramatic win in opposition to Ding, he simply did not suppose it could occur so quickly.

Gukesh is the 18th world champion since Wilhelm Steinitz received what is taken into account the primary title match manner again in 1886.

Born in May 2006, Gukesh can also be, by far, the youngest participant to have ascended this pinnacle.

He comfortably improved upon the prior report held by Garry Kasparov (born April 1963) who was 22 when he received the title in Moscow in November 1985 by beating Anatoly Karpov.

The 14-game match was tied with two wins every after 13 video games. It appeared as if the 14th recreation was heading for a draw.

In that case, there would have been tiebreaks performed at progressively shorter time controls.

But Ding blundered on transfer 55 and Gukesh exploited the error to clinch the title.

Over the final three years the younger participant has made a string of extraordinary achievements, culminating on this victory.

Gukesh received the person gold medal for finest efficiency within the final two Olympiads. He led India to a workforce bronze at Chennai in 2022 and the gold medal in 2024 in Budapest.

He additionally received the Candidates – the event that earned him the precise to problem Ding Liren.

Earlier in his teenagers, Gukesh was dominated out as a potential challenger by his mentor, the previous world champion Viswanathan Anand, or “Vishy Sir” as Gukesh calls him. He thought Gukesh merely did not have sufficient expertise.

Indeed, Gukesh suffered an apparently catastrophic loss on the halfway stage, however then he pulled himself collectively to win within the subsequent spherical and ultimately took the occasion.

In the title match Gukesh misplaced the primary recreation, and equalised with a win in recreation three, he then took the lead in recreation eleven and Ding equalised with a win in recreation 12.

Game 14 was clearly high-tension with the title and a prize fund of $2.5m (£1.98m) at stake, however the teenager managed his nerves.

Gukesh is clearly a rare expertise however this isn’t the romantic story of a lone ranger stunning the world. The Chennai GM is on the apex of a strong chess ecosystem, which is likely one of the finest, maybe the perfect, on this planet.

Gukesh has additionally been strongly supported by his dad and mom, by the chess institution in India, and by his faculty.

India has over 85 grandmasters, lots of whom should not but of driving age.

Indian groups have succeeded lately, profitable each the Open Gold (with Gukesh on prime board) and the Women’s gold on the final Olympiad in Budapest.

Those grandmasters are on the tip of a pyramid with over 30,000 rated gamers, as a result of an enormous variety of Indians play formally sanctioned tournaments.

Gukesh has been knowledgeable participant since he was round 10 years previous. He is mentored by Viswanathan Anand, who’s himself a five-time world champion.

He is sponsored by Westbridge Capital, which helps the Westbridge Anand Chess Academy, a premier teaching centre run by Anand.

Gukesh’s dad and mom are each docs, his father Rajinikanth is a surgeon and mom Padma is a microbiologist. Both put their careers on maintain to push their son.

Chess turns into an costly recreation when a toddler has to journey overseas for a number of months of yearly, so his dad and mom not solely put their very own earnings into supporting their son, in addition they requested associates to assist crowd-fund Gukesh’s profession till it took off.

Importantly, he additionally acquired assist from his faculty, Velammal Vidyalaya in Mogappair, which allowed him to take depart.

Gukesh has pursuits exterior of chess too – he meditates, swims and performs tennis.

His said targets are easy – he needs to be the perfect chess participant within the World – supplanting the present primary, Magnus Carlsen.

He additionally needs to have a “very lengthy profession on the prime”. As he sees it, the title is just one step, albeit a vital one in that life journey.