Gukesh Dommaraju: Indian teen who became world’s youngest chess champion

NEW DELHI: Indian chess prodigy Gukesh Dommaraju is toast of his nation after he beat China’s Ding Liren to become the game’s youngest-ever world champion at 18 years of age.

Gukesh lived up to his tag as favourite in this year’s World Chess Championship final in Singapore on Thursday to smash a record held by Russia’s Garry Kasparov, who was 22 when he became world champion in 1985.

It was a dream come true for the bearded teenager, who six years earlier declared: “I want to become the youngest world chess champion.”

Gukesh became India’s youngest grandmaster aged 12 years, seven months and 17 days, and among the youngest in the history of the game.

Even Magnus Carlsen, the most recognisable current player in chess and a five-time world champion, was older.

Gukesh burst into tears and hugged his father after nearly three weeks and 14 games of intense battle against Ding, 32.

It was a rare loss of composure from the young man, who in public usually appears shy and reserved.

Gukesh Dommaraju: Indian teen with chess world at his finger tips

He was absent from the Bermuda party while starring for India at this year’s Chess Olympiad in Budapest – the do is a decades-old tradition where contestants party at a nightclub in the host city.

But after India finished with two gold medals, Gukesh surprised fans accustomed to his serious persona by posting a video of himself dancing exuberantly to a popular Tamil song clad in traditional clothing.

Though he spends much of his time practising the game, Gukesh recently confessed to a love of the hit television sitcom “Friends”.

When competing he usually wears a tilak – a smattering of white ash on his forehead in deference to his Hindu faith – to go with his suit.

‘Proud moment for chess’

In 2022, Gukesh beat US number one Fabiano Caruana at the Chess Olympiad and later that year triumphed over Carlsen.

He reached the world championship by becoming the youngest winner of the prestigious Candidates Tournament in April.

Indian chess icon and five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand has played a mentor’s role in Gukesh’s journey and hailed the teenager as his successor.

“It’s a proud moment for chess, a proud moment for India… and for me, a very personal moment of pride,” Anand said of Thursday’s win.

Born to a doctor father and microbiologist mother, Gukesh started playing chess aged seven.

His father Rajnikanth took him to watch Anand play Carlsen in a world championship match in his hometown Chennai in November 2013.

The world championship in Singapore was compared by some in India to the classic showdown between the American Bobby Fischer and Soviet great Boris Spassky at the height of the Cold War in 1972.

Ties between nuclear-armed neighbours China and India are frequently tense.

But Gukesh was magnanimous in victory on Thursday, saying Ding “fought like a true champion” despite being “obviously not at his best physically”.

Ding had told AFP before the tournament started last month that he was “having mental problems mainly during the period last year” and had to take a break from chess on his doctor’s advice and travel around China to relax.

Gukesh had won in the Candidates Tournament held in Toronto, Canada, in April this year, earning him the right to challenge Ding.