Gukesh:18-Year-Old Gukesh Becomes Youngest-Ever Undisputed Chess World Champion.18-year-old Indian GM Gukesh Dommaraju Is The World

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gukesh:18-Year-Old Gukesh Becomes Youngest-Ever Undisputed Chess World Champion.18-year-old Indian GM Gukesh Dommaraju is the world champion.

Gukesh Dommaraju is an Indian chess grandmaster, widely regarded as one of the brightest young talents in the world of chess. Born on November 29, 2006, in Chennai, India.

Early Life and Career:(gukesh)

Gukesh was introduced to chess at the age of 5, and his rapid progress in the game was evident early on. He began participating in national and international tournaments, quickly making a name for himself with impressive performances. His breakthrough came when he won the World Under-12 Championship in 2017, marking him as a rising star.

18-Year-Old Gukesh Becomes Youngest-Ever Undisputed Chess World Champion.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:

Table 1: Players’ Information

Name	Rating	Score
Ding Liren	2728	6.5
Gukesh Dommaraju	2783	7.5

Table 2: Results per Round

Name	01	02	03	04	05	06	07	08	09	10	11	12	13	14
Ding Liren	1	½	0	½	½	½	½	½	½	½	0	1	½	0
Gukesh Dommaraju	0	½	1	½	½	½	½	½	½	½	1	0	½	1

gukesh:

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.

Notable Achievements:

Table 1: Achievements Timeline

Year	Achievement
2019	Gukesh became the youngest ever Indian Grandmaster at the age of 12 years, surpassing Viswanathan Anand’s record.
2021	He gained attention with his strong performances in various international tournaments, earning a reputation as one of the top young talents in the world.
2023	Gukesh achieved his career-highest Elo rating of 2783, placing him among the top 20 players globally.

Table 2: World Chess Championship Contender

Achievement
Gukesh’s consistent rise in the global rankings has made him a contender for future World Chess Championship cycles, and he has competed in top tournaments alongside elite grandmasters.

gukesh:

There was no question that Gukesh would push, and he revealed afterward that it had been his plan for the match: “My whole strategy was to push as much as possible in every single game with both colors, and it wasn’t working till the last moment, but it just takes one game for the strategy to pay off!”

“It just takes one game for the strategy to pay off!“

—Gukesh Dommaraju

The goal looked to be to tire Ding out for tiebreaks, but the endgame was treacherous, and the crucial moment came when Ding applied a strategy that had previously been working—offering a trade of rooks—in a situation where it was a losing move: 55.Rf2??

Neither player realized the mistake immediately, with Gukesh admitting he almost avoided the trade of rooks with 55…Rb3?. Then it dawned on him that he could exchange rooks, followed by bishops on d5, and the pawn endgame would be a simple win. “It was probably the best moment of my life!” he said later about knowing the match was over.