NEW DELHI: Indian Grandmaster D Gukesh turned his lifelong dream into actuality by turning into the youngest world chess champion at 18, defeating reigning champion Ding Liren in the ultimate recreation of an exhilarating contest.
At simply 11 years outdated, Gukesh declared his ambition to turn into the youngest world champion, and 7 years later, he fulfilled his cherished purpose.
A video going viral on social media captures the younger prodigy confidently sharing his dream when requested about his private ambition: “I want to become the youngest world champion,” he mentioned.
Gukesh additionally turned solely the second Indian to clinch the world title after legendary Viswanathan Anand, who owned the crown 5 occasions in his profession.
Gukesh clinched the title by scoring 7.5 factors to his Chinese rival Ding Liren’s 6.5, securing victory in the 14th and last classical time management recreation of a match that appeared destined for a draw for a lot of its period.
As the champion, Gukesh will take dwelling a formidable prize of USD 1.3 million (roughly Rs 11.03 crore) from the full prize pool of USD 2.5 million.
“I was dreaming this moment for the last 10 years. I am happy that I realized the dream (and made it) into reality,” the gentle-spoken Chennai-lad advised reporters after the historic triumph in Singapore.
“I got a bit emotional because I was not expecting to win. But then I got a chance to press on,” he added.
Prior to Gukesh’s historic triumph on Thursday, the legendary Garry Kasparov of Russia held the report because the youngest world chess champion, having claimed the title at 22 by defeating Anatoly Karpov in 1985.
