Eighteen-year-old Gukesh Dommaraju on Thursday defeated China’s Ding Liren at the FIDE World Chess Championship 2024 in Singapore to become the youngest player to hold the title in the history of the game.

Dommaraju broke the long-standing record set by Russia’s Garry Kasparov, who won the title in 1958 at the age of 22. The 18-year-old from Chennai also became the second grandmaster from India to win the title after Viswanathan Anand, who was the world champion for six years beginning in 2007.

On Thursday, Dommaraju’s victory over Liren came after 58 moves and took his points tally to 7.5 – the required score to win the championship – in the 14-game match.

The game was initially headed towards a draw. However, Liren made an error on the 55th move with his rook, which eventually led to the 18-year-old’s win.

“I have been dreaming about this moment for more than 10 years,” Dommaraju said after winning the title. “Every chess player wants to experience this moment and very few get the chance…I am just living my dream.”

On his part, Liren said that he was in shock when he realised he made a blunder during the game. “However, I think I played my best tournament of the year,” he said. “It could be better…I have no regrets.” Liren added that he would continue to play.

Following the victory, Kasparov congratulated the 18-year-old and said that he had “summited the highest peak of all: making his mother happy!”

In a social media post, Kasparov said that Dommaraju had “impressively surmounted every obstacle and opponent in his path, especially considering his age, and nothing more can be asked”.

He also noted that Liren showed great resistance. “As for the blunders, which world championship, or world champion, was without them? I had my share...Matches take a toll,” Kasparov added.

Anand said that the win was a proud moment for chess and for India. He added that it was also a “very personal moment of pride”. The grandmaster also said that Liren played a “very exciting match and showed the champion he is”.

Grandmaster Vidit Gujrathi also congratulated Dommaraju and called the win an “amazing achievement”. He added that his heart went out to Liren. “A chess player can understand how bad it feels to make a trivial blunder when there are such high stakes… Poor thing!” Gujrathi said.