Gukesh creates history by becoming youngest world chess champion after Ding-dong battle
NEW DELHI, DEC 12 : After 13 games that saw scores level at 6.5-6.5 and another 55 moves in Game 14 came the decisive moment. It was Ding Liren the defending world champion who had faltered and with that India’s D Gukesh became the youngest world chess champion at the age of 18 by clinching the World Chess Championship in Singapore.
“Since I started playing chess I have been dreaming about this moment,” Gukesh said after greeting the win with a teary-eyed moment on the board. “I am living my dream. I have to thank god.”
There was humility in his words when he praised his Chinese opponent and said that he was sorry for him. “For me he is the real champion,” Gukesh said.
The previous world record was held by the great Garry Kasparov who defeated fellow great Anatoly Karpov at the age of 22 to become world champion in 1985.
Gukesh is India’s second world chess champion after Viswanathan Anand. Anand won the title on five separate occasions.
Just about when the two players finished their stipulated time (two hours each), the match seemed to have been heading into a draw. Game 14, last of the chess world championship before the tie-breaks, had taken a predictable course. But there was one advantage for Gukesh — he had one extra pawn.
Gukesh had glimpses of victory even on Wednesday.
On Thursday, he was playing black and Ding had a near perfect last game when he had white. The evaluation bar was right in the middle, showing the position was as close to equal as possible, till Ding blundered. Gukesh then sensed victory as the mistake enabled him to swap off the bishops and rooks and enter a won pawn endgame.
He stood up from the chair, calculated the moves and Ding extended his hands for a hand-shake accepting his loss.
Myriad emotions would have flashed through Gukesh’s mind and he broke down, unable to hold back his tears. The last almost three weeks of emotion flooded out on the board. The moment slowly sank in. “This is the best moment of my life,” he said, stating the obvious.
Gukesh spoke about the 2013 World Chess Championships between Vishy Anand and Magnus Carlsen in 2013.
“I was looking inside the glass box. It would be so cool to be inside one day. When Magnus won I thought I could be the one to bring the title back to India. I am happy to bring the title back,” he said at the press conference.
-PTI
