Garry Kasparov was 22 years, six months and 27 days old when he took the chess World Championship crown away from Anatoly Karpov in 1985. Norway's Magnus Carlsen was nearly five months older when he dethroned India's Viswanathan Anand in 2013. India's D Gukesh is now only the 18th classical chess world champion since Wilhelm Steinitz in 1886, and astonishingly, he is only 18 years, eight months and 14 days old.
With China's Ding Liren having white pieces in Thursday's 14th and final game, Gukesh had a mountain to climb. At one stage, the computer assessed the situation and pronounced that the chances of a draw were 96 per cent. But Gukesh kept ploughing ahead, and Ding eventually coughed up a monumental blunder that Vladimir Kramnik, former world champion, called the 'end of chess as we know it'.
Gukesh, usually so calm and articulate, could barely get the words out in the post-game interaction in Singapore.
"Actually, when he played Rook f2, I didn't realise, I was almost going to play Rook b3, but then I saw that his bishop is actually getting trapped and after King e1, I have King e5 and the pawn ending, which is winning," he said.
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"When I realised, it was probably the best moment of my life."
Once he had recovered his composure somewhat, Gukesh traced his path to the top of the mountain.
"Qualifying for the Candidates and then coming till here, there were so many miracles," he said.
"Firstly, thankful to God, and all the people who have been by my side in this journey. I'd like to thank each and every one, but I will have to prepare my speech first. The kind of emotion I'm feeling right now, I’ll say something stupid."
Gukesh had barely started playing the game when Anand lost the title to Carlsen, but he said that match in December 2013 had always served as inspiration.
"When Magnus won, I thought I really want to be the one to bring back the title to India," said Gukesh.
"This dream I had more than 10 years ago has been the single most important in my life so far. Doing this for myself, my loved ones and my country is…there’s nothing better than this."
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As for Ding, who had been expected to win easily if the match went into a tie-breaker, there was just abject disappointment at the manner in which he lost his title. “I was totally in shock when I made a blunder – his facial expression shows that he was very excited, happy – it took some time to realise it,” he said.
Champion almost by default after Carlsen decided not to defend his title in 2023, Ding has now been usurped by someone even more prodigious than Kasparov and Bobby Fischer.
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