Indian teenager Gukesh Dommaraju shocked the world of chess when he became the youngest world champion at the age of just 18.
The Chennai-born prodigy defeated defending champion, China's Ding Liren, in a dramatic match staged in Singapore which he had entered as the challenger. The FIDE World Chess Championship carries a $2.5m (£1.96m) prize fund. It marked the peak to date of his career, his greatest moment in a long string of achievements.
Gukesh became a grandmaster aged 12 years and seven months and even then, he was upfront about the fact that he dreamt of being the world champion. In fact, he said he had harboured such ambitions since he was seven when he was a spectator at a World Title match between Viswanathan Anand and Magnus Carlsen in 2013.
As he confessed at the press conference following his dramatic win against Ding, he just didn't think it would happen so soon. "Throughout the match I had several chances to clinch victories and many of the games which would have put me in the front foot quite seriously,” he said following the game.
“But once I was getting close, I was getting nervous and wasn’t able to finish him off. And then all of a sudden…there was a change, and I couldn’t process all the new information so quickly."
Gukesh is the 18th world champion since Wilhelm Steinitz won what is considered the first title match way back in 1886. Born in May 2006, he is also the youngest player to have ascended this pinnacle.
Over the last three years the young player has made a string of extraordinary achievements, culminating in this victory. He won the individual gold medal for best performance in the last two Olympiads and led India to a team bronze at Chennai in 2022 before the gold medal in 2024 in Budapest.
He also won the Candidates - the tournament that earned him the right to challenge Ding Liren. Earlier in his teens, Gukesh was ruled out as a prospective challenger by his mentor, the former world champion Viswanathan Anand, who thought that Gukesh simply didn't have enough experience.
The Chennai GM is at the apex of a robust chess ecosystem, which is one of the best, perhaps the best, in the world, whilst India has over 85 grandmasters, many of whom are not yet of driving age. Sponsored by Westbridge Capital, which supports the Westbridge Anand Chess Academy, Gukesh has been a professional player since he was around 10 years old and is now mentored by five-time world champion, Viswanathan Anand.
His aim is to overcome the current number one, Magnus Carlsen, and become the undisputed best chess player in the world.
