Gukesh Dommaraju becomes youngest world chess champion after horrific Ding Liren blunder

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Indian teenager Gukesh Dommaraju capped a stunning rise to the pinnacle of chess by dethroning China’s Ding Liren to become the youngest-ever world chess champion in Singapore on Thursday.

The 18-year-old from Chennai grabbed the decisive win from a dead-end position in the final match of their best-of-14-games showdown as Ding made one of the worst blunders in the 138-year history of World Cup match play. The 32-year-old defending champion resigned moments later after a match that lasted 58 moves and just over four hours, sealing Gukesh’s 7½-6½ victory in the $2.5 million match and raising the widely anticipated prospect of tiebreak matches on Friday afternoon was brought up for discussion.

Gukesh said he initially did not recognize Ding’s rook move as a blunder. It took him a few seconds to realize that his opponent’s bishop was trapped.

“When I realized it, it was probably the best moment of my life,” he said.

Ding, playing with the white pieces, came out of the opening better, but Gukesh was able to unlock and stabilize his pieces in the middle game. The draw seemed inevitable when material started to flow off the board in groups from move 19 onwards.

But a game that seemed headed for a peaceful outcome suddenly became complicated when Ding sacrificed a pawn in exchange for a simple endgame. That left Gukesh no choice but to fight on and he was only too happy to punish his enemy in a grueling endgame under increasing time pressure.

Then Ding finally broke.

“I was in total shock when I realized I had made a blunder,” Ding said. “His facial expression showed he was very happy and excited and I realized I had made a blunder. It took some time to realize it.”

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was among the first to congratulate Gukesh after he became only India’s second world champion, joining Viswanathan Anand, who won the sport’s most prestigious title from 2017 to 2013.

“Historic and exemplary!” Modes wrote on X. “Congratulations to Gukesh D on his remarkable achievement. This is the result of his unparalleled talent, hard work and relentless determination.”

After Ding resigned, tears flowed as Gukesh, overcome with emotion, sat at the board, while hundreds of his supporters staged jubilant scenes in the spectator area.

“I probably got so emotional because I didn’t really expect to win from that position,” Gukesh said. “I wanted to press it as long as possible, but I thought: it’s okay. We’re going to play for five, six hours. It ends in a draw, and let’s focus on the tiebreakers.’

“But then suddenly, after Rf2, I and I saw [the game] was actually done. I was already preparing myself to get through that huge tiebreaker fight and suddenly it was all over and I had achieved my dream. I’m not one to show a lot of emotions, but I think this one can be forgiven.”

Last year, Ding became the first men’s world chess champion from China by beating Russia’s Ian Nepomniachtchi in Kazakhstan, capturing the title relinquished by longtime world champion Magnus Carlsen of Norway. But he had played very sparingly in the nineteen months since, amid a well-documented battle with depression, including a nine-month hiatus to prioritize his mental health.

He entered the title match having gone 28 classic matches without a win, a terrible run of form that saw him drop to 23rd in the world rankings and prompted the oddsmakers to put him in the match as around a 3-1 long shot. But he pulled off a big surprise in Game 1 by winning as black, ending the 304-day winless streak with a riveting opening salvo.

Game 2 was a quiet draw, before Gukesh roared back with a win in Game 3. The fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth and 10th games were each draws. Gukesh won in Game 11 on Sunday before Ding struck back on Monday Game 12. In the 13th game on Wednesday, Ding held on in a high-wire draw, leaving the score at 6½ going into Thursday’s final.

Although Ding was considered the underdog in the match due to his unremarkable form, he would have gone out as the slight favorite if Game 14 had been drawn and the match was decided on Friday with a series of tiebreak matches with faster time control.

“Champions always embrace the moment,” Gukesh said. “Obviously he wasn’t in top form the last two years, but he came here. He clearly struggled during some matches. Physically he was probably not at his best. But he fought in all the matches. He fought like a true champion.”

Gukesh, commonly known as Gukesh D, became the third youngest grandmaster in history at 12 years and seven months. In April, at the age of 17, he stunned the chess establishment by winning the eight-man Candidates tournament in Toronto, becoming the youngest-ever challenger to the world championship. He finished at the top of a stacked field that included Nepomniachtchi, Hikaru Nakamura and Fabiano Caruana.

The fact that Gukesh even played for the world title was a historic achievement. Until April, teenagers had an indifferent record with the Candidates over the years. Only Bobby Fischer in 1959 and Magnus Carlsen in 2006, both 16 at the time, were younger than Gukesh, and both were also-rans.

“My journey, it’s been since the time I started playing chess when I was six and a half, seven [years old]” said Gukesh. “I’ve been dreaming of this moment for more than ten years. Every chess player wants to experience this moment and only a few get the chance. To be one of them is… I guess the only way to explain it is that I’m living my dream.”