18-year-old Indian GM Gukesh Dommaraju is the world champion after the defending title holder GM Ding Liren (32) from China collapsed in game 14 of the 2024 FIDE World Championship.
Gukesh won 7.5-6.5, taking $1.35 million, after a game where Ding seemed to have a risk-free chance to press for a win but instead liquidated into a pawn-down endgame. It was objectively drawn, but Gukesh kept pushing and Ding blundered as the pressure grew. Gukesh called it “probably the best moment of my life” when he realized he’d fulfilled a childhood dream.
Gukesh Beats Ding To Win World Championship
The moment Gukesh became the 18th world champion
The 14th and final classical game of the world championship match in Singapore seemed to be fizzling out into a draw, which would have meant nerve-wracking rapid tiebreaks on Friday. The game had followed many of the patterns we’d seen previously in the match.
Gukesh sprang the first surprise in the opening, but after taking his time Ding had reacted well, and after an inaccurate move by his opponent he seemed on the brink of taking over—just as he had when he won game 12.
Khushi Agarwal
BJMC 5
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