CNN —Teenager Gukesh Dommaraju became the youngest-ever undisputed classical chess world champion after beating Ding Liren 7.5-6.5 in their best-of-14 final in Singapore on Thursday.
The 18-year-old Gukesh and defending champion Ding entered the last game tied and things appeared to be headed to rapid chess tiebreaks, but it was the youngster who was able to claim the crucial point after a blunder from Ding.
Social media clips showed fans back in India celebrating Gukesh’s victory wildly, cheering and hugging as he became the 18th world chess champion and just the country’s second world champion after Viswanathan Anand.
Heartiest congratulations to Gukesh for becoming the youngest player to win the World Chess Championship.
It’s a proud moment for chess, a proud moment for India, a proud moment for WACA, and for me, a very personal moment of pride,” Anand wrote on X.
Persons:
Gukesh Dommaraju, Ding Liren, Ding, Gukesh, Viswanathan Anand, hadn’t, ”, Garry Kasparov, it’s, I’ve, “, Simon Lim, Narendra Modi, ” Anand, “ Ding
Organizations:
CNN, Russian, Getty
Locations:
Singapore, India, AFP