In the 14th and final classic part of the match, the Madras-born prodigy benefited from a terrible blunder by the reigning champion, the Chinese Ding Liren. He ultimately won the confrontation by 7.5 to 6.5.
The 18-year-old Indian player Dommaraju Gukesh won the last classic game (40 moves to play in two hours of thought) of the world championships against the Chinese title holder Ding Liren on Thursday, December 12 and becomes the youngest player to win the title the most prestigious of chess.
While the two players were tied before the 14th game, which seemed headed for a draw, the Indian player took advantage of a blunder from his opponent in the 55th move to take a decisive advantage and force the retirement. He is the second Indian to obtain this title after Viswanathan Anand.
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The duel in Singapore was indecisive until the end, but the mistakes of Ding, 32, ended up making him lose the title which he had won for the first time in April 2023. Since this coronation he had played much less and seemed to lose quality of play.
Gukesh did not miss the opportunity to continue his meteoric rise in the world of chess. His designation as challenger thanks to his victory during the Candidates Tournament in April 2024 had already surprised, but he continued to gain momentum, with a great performance during the Chess Olympiad in September, won by India.