Indian teenager Gukesh Dommaraju just made history by becoming the youngest ever World Chess Champion at the age of just 18.
Gukesh defeated China's Ding Liren, a grandmaster and the defending champion, at the World Championship in Singapore on 12 December. Previously the youngest champion was Garry Kasparov, who was 22 when he won.
Gukesh Dommaraju is from Chennai in Southern India, a hotbed of chess champions. He has been a professional chess player since he was 10, and became a chess grandmaster at just 12 years old. He was mentored by the only other Indian to win the World Championship, Viswanathan Anand. Anand was champion five times.
India has become a leading chess nation. At the FIDE Chess Olympiad this year in Budapest, Gukesh Dommaraju captained the men's team to win the gold medal. And India also won the Women's gold.
The World Championship is a series of 14 games. If the opponents are tied after 14, they go on to play games with shorter and shorter time limits. Gukesh Dommaraju and Ding Liren were tied going into the 14th game: they had won two games each and nine were draws. But Ding Liren made a mistake in the 14th and Gukesh pounced to win.
Gukesh's school and his parents, who are both doctors, have supported his career. They even crowdfunded to help finance his travel around the world for tournaments. The $2.5 million he just won will help him keep playing.
This is an interview with Gukesh Dommaraju after his World Championship win:
Copyright(s) :
FIDE International Chess Federation