Indian teenager Gukesh Dommaraju made historical past by defeating China’s Ding Liren to turn into the youngest world chess champion at 18, sealing a dramatic 7.5-6.5 victory within the 14-game match. The Guardian stories: The 18-year-old from Chennai dramatically snatched the decisive victory from a dead-drawn place within the remaining contest of their best-of-14-games showdown when Ding made one of many worst blunders within the 138-year historical past of world championship matchplay. The 32-year-old defending champion resigned moments later after a recreation that lasted 58 strikes and simply over 4 hours, sealing Gukesh’s 7.5-6.5 win within the three-week match and rendering moot the broadly anticipated prospect of tiebreaker matches on Friday afternoon.
In doing so, Gukesh shattered the age document held by Garry Kasparov, who was 22 when he toppled Anatoly Karpov in 1985. Gukesh admitted he did not initially acknowledge Ding’s rook transfer (55 Rf2??) as a blunder, saying it took a number of seconds to identify that his opponent’s bishop was trapped. He might barely conceal his pleasure upon the invention, whereas a devastated Ding might solely bury his head in his palms. “Once I realized it, it was most likely the most effective second of my life,” mentioned Gukesh, who brings residence the $1.35 million winner’s share of the $2.5 million prize fund together with the game’s most prestigious title.
