Youngest World Champion D Gukesh recollects viral previous video “I Want to be youngest World Champion”
SINGAPORE: A heart-warming father-son second was captured after India’s D Gukesh defeated China’s Ding Liren within the 14th and the ultimate sport of the World Chess Championship, turning into the youngest world champion on Thursday.
Gukesh’s win on Thursday got here within the final sport of the 14-game World Chess Championship in Singapore. Gukesh’s father had tears in his eyes when his prodigal son got here and hugged him.
Even the chess champion couldn’t stop his eyes from getting moist as he realised the large dream he had spoken publicly of as an 11-year-old. It wasn’t a simple battle for Gukesh however he fought valiantly to emerge triumphant.
“I just exchanged a few words with my father. My mother is not here but she will be flying in tomorrow. They have made a lot of sacrifices and I would like to thank them,” Gukesh mentioned because the video of him hugging his father after the title win went viral.
“This was the dream that I had like more than 10 years ago (and it) has been the single most important thing in my life so far. So yeah, doing this for myself, for my loved ones and my country, it’s yeah, like there’s probably nothing better than this,” Gukesh shared.
Gukesh had famously dreamt of successful the world championship title as an 8-year-old. About 7 years in the past, he had publicly cited his ambition of turning into the youngest world champion within the historical past of the sport.
He made that attainable in 2024. “I imply it most likely meant loads to that 11-year-old then. Right now as a result of I ended paying an excessive amount of consideration to these numbers like I imply these information.
But yeah, I imply there’s this well-known video clip of 2017-2018 once I mentioned I needed to be this youngest World champion and now that now that this isn’t only a dream however actuality, it feels Very cool,” he added.
Who is Gukesh?
Gukesh comes from Chennai, the capital of the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu. He attended Chennai’s Velammal Nexus School.
He began enjoying chess on the age of seven, Gukesh mentioned in an interview uploaded in 2019 by the Gibraltar International Chess Festival.
“Chess is so complex, so I just love it,” Gukesh mentioned within the video. “I want to become a world champion.”
By the age of 12, Gukesh had turn into a grandmaster – the very best title a chess participant can attain – making him the third-youngest grandmaster in historical past and the youngest one from India.
Gukesh sees magnificence and philosophy in pawns, bishops and boards. A YouTube video uploaded by the chess information publication ChessBase India reveals the cabinets of his room in his Chennai home stacked with trophies and chess books, resembling Under the Surface by Jan Markos and Yochanan Afek’s Practical Chess Beauty.
Chennai has come to be often called the chess capital of India. Out of the 85 chess grandmasters in India, 31 are from Tamil Nadu. The state is even dwelling to a temple devoted to the sport.
Is he the youngest world chess champion?
Yes.
Before Gukesh, Russian legend Garry Kasparov was the youngest to turn into world champion on the age of twenty-two in 1985.
How did Gukesh win?
Gukesh qualified for the championship in April by successful the boys’s Candidates Tournament of the International Chess Federation (FIDE). He was the youngest candidate to win the Candidates Tournament.
He competed in opposition to seven different contestants within the occasion held in April in Toronto, Canada. The winner of the double round-robin match goes on to problem the defending champion for the world title.
Ding, 32, grew to become world champion in 2023. Starting November 25, Gukesh and Ding confronted off over 14 intense video games.
In chess, a participant wins one level for a win and half some extent for a draw.
Ding went into the lead by successful the primary sport. The second spherical led to a tie.
Gukesh won the third game, tying issues up with Ding at 1.5 every. They remained tied for a number of video games, drawing every of them.
In the eleventh sport, Gukesh, enjoying with white, took the lead after Ding made a blunder. But Ding bounced again by successful the 12th game, levelling the enjoying subject as soon as once more. The thirteenth sport resulted in a draw.
The successful second
Gukesh performed with black within the 14th and closing sport. Midway via, a draw appeared imminent. But Ding made the error of transferring his final highly effective piece, his rook, off a robust place. Ding’s mistake took Gukesh unexpectedly, and he regarded intently on the board and calculated his subsequent strikes.
After realising his mistake, Ding was visibly dissatisfied and resigned three strikes later, conceding the world champion title to Gukesh.
“It took me some time to understand I blundered. … I feel I performed my finest match within the 12 months.
“I could be better, but considering yesterday’s luck, it’s a fair result to lose in the end. I have no regrets,” Ding mentioned at a information convention after the sport, saying he would proceed to play chess.
When Gukesh realised he had gained, he broke into tears. Speaking to reporters after the sport, Gukesh mentioned he initially didn’t realise Ding’s blunder however when he did: “It was probably the best moment of my life.”
Gukesh mentioned Ding “fought like a true champion”.
Who are the sooner 17 champions?
- Wilhelm Steinitz: Born in Prague, Steinitz was the primary official world champion, grabbing the title in 1886 and holding it for eight years over 4 championships.
- Emanuel Lasker: Born in Prussia in what’s at this time Poland, Lasker gained the title in 1894 and held it over six championships.
- Jose Raul Capablanca: Hailing from Cuba, Capablanca gained the title in 1921.
- Alexander Alekhine: The Russian who obtained French citizenship gained the title first in 1927 and thrice after that.
- Max Euwe: The Dutch mathematician gained the title in 1935.
- Mikhail Botvinnik: The Russian gained the title 5 instances, first in 1948.
- Vasily Smyslov: The Russian grew to become world champion in 1957.
- Mikhail Tal: The Latvian grew to become world champion in 1960.
- Tigran V Petrosian: The Armenian remained world champion from 1963 to 1969.
- Boris Spassky: The Russian grew to become world champion in 1969.
- Bobby Fischer: The American grew to become world champion in 1972.
- Anatoly Karpov: The Russian held the title from 1975 to 1985, successful 5 instances.
- Garry Kasparov: The Russian held the title from 1985 to 2000, successful six instances.
- Vladimir Kramnik: The Russian held the title from 2000 to 2007, successful thrice.
- Viswanathan Anand: The first grandmaster and world champion from India gained the title in 2007 and held it till 2013, successful 4 instances.
- Magnus Carlsen: The Norwegian grandmaster gained the title in 2013 and held it till 2023.
- Ding: The Chinese grandmaster held the title of world champion for 20 months after successful it in April 2023.
