FOR THE first time in almost three weeks, D Gukesh acted every bit like the 18-year-old that he is. Overcome by the weight of the moment, the teenager from Chennai started to sob at the chessboard.
It’s not everyday that you become the world champion. It’s definitely not everyday that you become the youngest world champion in history, as Gukesh has after prevailing over Ding Liren in a 14-game World Chess Championship match in Singapore.
In fact, the succession line of world chess champions — which started in 1886 and has seen 17 men ascend to the throne — has never seen a teenager.
Before Gukesh, Garry Kasparov — at 22 years, six months and 27 days — was the youngest-ever world champion. Magnus Carlsen, who chose not to defend his title in 2023, was 22 years, 11 months and 24 days when he won his first championship in 2013.
“This was probably the best moment in my life,” Gukesh said about his opponent making a blunder in the 55th move of Game 14 on Thursday, which opened the door to his ascension. “From the time I started playing chess, I have been dreaming about this moment, have been living this moment for more than 10 years,” he said.
Till that stage, it looked like the game would end in a draw. But one miscalculated push of the rook (55.Rf2) saw Ding’s last line of defence leave the board, and an unavoidable checkmate. In short, one mis-timed move cost Ding the game, the match and the crown.
Both players had battled on for over four hours at that point. With three pawns on the board compared to Ding’s two, Gukesh had a slight material advantage. He had also saved up an hour more than his opponent. But besides hope, there was not much that Gukesh was playing for at that point. The 55th move changed that.
It was when he saw the move that Gukesh’s inscrutable face broke into a grin.
Since the championship began on November 25, Ding would sneak glances at Gukesh’s face, as if trying to get a read on his emotions. But Gukesh, largely, gave Ding nothing, definitely not any expression that betrayed his thoughts.
After he became the world champion, it all came out. Even empathy.
“Before I talk about anything else, I want to talk about my opponent. We all know who Ding Liren is. He has been one of the best players in history for several years, and to see how much pressure he faced, and the kind of fight he still gave at the world championship, it shows what a true champion he is. I’m really sorry for Ding and his team, and I would like to thank him for putting on a show,” Gukesh said.
Ding has spoken earlier about his troubles with depression away from the board, and not having too much self-confidence on the board.
“No matter who says what about Ding, he’s a real world champion,” Gukesh said, referring to predictions from former world champions like Magnus Carlsen and elite grandmasters like Hikaru Nakamura that there would be a “massacre” on the board by the Indian or that the Chinese GM would crumble.
Ding did not crumble, but he did make three significant errors on the board which led to three defeats.
The outgoing world champion was also equally gracious in defeat. “Considering my lucky escape in yesterday’s game, it’s fair that I lost in the end. I have no regrets,” Ding said, before leaving the press conference.
As Ding walked off, Gukesh stood up and applauded his opponent out of the door, only taking his seat after the Chinese had left the room. In victory, he was definitely not going to forget his manners.
Just about half-an-hour back, right after his opponent had thrown in the towel, despite the emotions taking over, Gukesh had waited back at the chessboard, tearing up but still rearranging the chessboard, like it was his duty to return all the pieces back to their squares.
Gukesh’s win came on the back of his ability to keep fighting. Other grandmasters would have accepted a draw today and taken the battle into tie-breaker tomorrow (where the players would play in faster time controls).
But, for the third time at the World Chess Championship 2024 in Singapore, Gukesh was not willing to settle for a draw, even if a win was nowhere on the horizon. In two previous games, that strategy had not borne fruit. On Thursday, it made him the champion of the world.
For some time now, it has felt like the world of chess is bracing for an era of Indian prodigies — from the Candidates tournament earlier this year, which had an unprecedented number of Indian players qualifying, to the double gold medals for the Indian teams at the Budapest Chess Olympiad. Earlier, Kasparov called it an “Indian earthquake in chess”.
With Gukesh’s coronation, the prophecies have come true. The Indian earthquake has just started.
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