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

The Guardian ^ | 12.12.2024 | Bryan Graham

[libh8er]

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

The 18-year-old from Chennai dramatically snatched the decisive victory from a dead-drawn position in the final contest of their best-of-14-games showdown when Ding made one of the worst blunders in the 138-year history of world championship matchplay. The 32-year-old defending champion resigned moments later after a game that lasted 58 moves and just over four hours, sealing Gukesh’s 7½-6½ win in the three-week match and rendering moot the widely expected prospect of tiebreaker matches on Friday afternoon.

In doing so, Gukesh shattered the age record held by Garry Kasparov, who was 22 when he toppled Anatoly Karpov in 1985.

Gukesh admitted he didn’t initially recognize Ding’s rook move (55 Rf2??) as a blunder, saying it took a few seconds to spot that his opponent’s bishop was trapped. He could barely conceal his excitement upon the discovery, while a devastated Ding could only bury his head in his hands.

“When I realized it, it was probably the best moment of my life,” said Gukesh, who brings home the $1.35m (£1.06m) winner’s share of the $2.5m prize fund along with the sport’s most prestigious title.

Ding, playing with the favored white pieces, was slightly better out of the opening but Gukesh was able to unlock his pieces and stabilize in the middlegame. The draw appeared inevitable when material starting coming off the board in bunches starting with move 19.

[NorthMountain]

I would invite you,
But the queens we use
Would not excite you.

[IndianChief]

Magnus Carlsen is still #1. He sat out the last two championships (out of boredom?),

Carlsen is suffering from depression, or so they say. He did lose 1 match to another Indian teen a few years ago. This teen too burned out.

[IndianChief]

Gukesh did thank God for his win thrice before he even left the board and did fold his hands in prayer then.

Very racist.

He then thanked his Mom and rushed to greet his Dad, a surgeon who put his practice on hold to accompany his son to tournaments.

His win will give a huge boost to chess in India

[rellic]

I like playing chess.
but if at the end of the game if more than 4 pieces are left total, I’d consider that a bad game.
I like to kill and see suffering.
It is just a game!