Indian teenager Gukesh Dommaraju made historical past by defeating China’s Ding Liren to change into the youngest world chess champion at 18, sealing a dramatic 7.5-6.5 victory within the 14-game match. The Guardian reviews: The 18-year-old from Chennai dramatically snatched the decisive victory from a dead-drawn place within the last 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 sport 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 extensively anticipated prospect of tiebreaker matches on Friday afternoon.
In doing so, Gukesh shattered the age report 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 just a few 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 arms. “Once I realized it, it was in all probability the perfect second of my life,” mentioned Gukesh, who brings dwelling the $1.35 million winner’s share of the $2.5 million prize fund together with the game’s most prestigious title.
