Teenager Gukesh Dommaraju of India became the youngest chess world champion by beating defending champion Ding Liren of China on Thursday (Dec 12) in a dramatic turn of events in the last game of a 14-game match in Singapore.

The 18th world champion is, at age 18, four years younger than Garry Kasparov, who had been the youngest world champion since 1985 when he beat Anatoly Karpov.

Gukesh won Thursday's game with the black pieces after Ding wilted under pressure and blundered in what commentators considered to be a comfortable position, snatching the title with a final score of 7.5-6.5.

"I probably got so emotional because I did not really expect to win that position," Gukesh told reporters.

Related

---