Watch: Gukesh’s emotional reaction on winning world chess championship

India’s D Gukesh beat China’s Ding Liren in the 14th round to claim the World Chess Championship 2024 title in Singapore on Thursday.

With this, the 18-year-old Gukesh became the youngest world chess champion, beating the record previously held by Garry Kasparov.

Tied at 6.5-6.5, the 18-year-old Gukesh defeated reigning champion Ding of China in the final game of the 14-game series to clinch the title.

Watch Gukesh’s reaction on winning world championship

“Actually, when he played Rf2, I didn’t realise, I was almost going to play Rb3 but then I saw that his bishop is actually getting trapped and after Ke1, I have Ke5 and the pawn ending which is winning. When I realised, it was probably the best moment of my life,” said Gukesh.

Gukesh capitalised on an error by Ding in the tiebreak. The otherwise calm and composed Gukesh burst into emotion on sealing the world championship in his favour, looking up at the skies as he set his pieces in order.

On Ding, Gukesh said, “We all know who Ding is and he has been one of the best players in history for several years and to see him struggling and how much pressure he had to face and the kind of fight he gave in this match, it shows what a true champion he is and no matter who says what about Ding, for me he is a real world champion.