A dynamic series of games results in a well-deserved win for the challenger
Ding Liren, the reigning champion, moved his rook from f4 to f2. The challenger, Gukesh Dommaraju, simply stared at the board. A wave of realisation crossed both men’s faces. Gukesh’s eyes swelled with emotion as he took a sip of his drink and put his head in his hands. Only one thought was going through his mind – “I have just won the world chess championship”. Fourteen games in, he had done it.
The title of “World Chess Champion” has been in disarray since last year when decade-long champion Magnus Carlsen declined to defend it. He cited a lack of motivation, frustrated by the reliance on prepared move lines instead of intuitive play, which he preferred. As such, the two top players of the Candidates Tournament, Ding Liren and Ian Nepomniachtchi, fought for the title at the 2023 WCC, which Liren won.
Less than a week after winning the title, Liren competed in the Superbet Chess Classic in Bucharest, where he finished eighth. He then proceeded to pull out of many major tournaments, explaining that he was too exhausted and depressed to play well. He returned to chess at the 2024 Tata Steel Chess Tournament in Wijk aan Zee, and announced he would defend his title in the upcoming annual tournament.
Despite his comeback, he would perform poorly in the tournaments he participated in and he fell from world rank #3 to world rank #23. During a game with Magnus Carlsen, Ding blundered a forced checkmate despite having 30 minutes left on the clock. Reflecting on the match, Carlsen remarked, I feel bad for him because he looks miserable while playing.”
In contrast, Gukesh Dommaraju had a stellar 2024. A prodigy at a young age, his parents made the bold decision to drop him out of primary school to fully focus on his chess career, with his father travelling with him to tournaments across the world. Gukesh’s father has gone on record stating that they used to sleep on airport floors to save money, while his mother admitted they often questioned their decision to withdraw him from school. But they never gave up. They went all in on a dream and it paid off in spades, with Gukesh earning the title of grandmaster at just 12 years old.
Gukesh started off the year by tying for first in the Tata Steel Chess Tournament, losing in the tiebreaker match to Chinese grandmaster and former chess prodigy Wei Yi. In April, he came first in the Candidates Tournament in Toronto, guaranteeing him a shot at Liren’s title. He racked up huge wins against Anish Giri, Vidit Gujrathi and Alireza Firouzja. By October, Gukesh had climbed to world rank #5, fresh off an unbeaten performance at the Chess Olympiad in Budapest.
The WCC match series between Ding and Gukesh started off on the 25th November. Contrary to expectations, Ding played a seemingly aggressive first game, taking Gukesh out of his prepared lines early and creating a winning advantage with Nb2! on the 18th move. Gukesh delivered some solid counterplay but Ding didn’t flinch and won the game, his first classical win since January. Fans noticed Ding’s unusually cool demeanour and posted memes with the phrase “Ding Chilling”. It looked like the champion still had some fight left in him.
The second game ended in a draw after repetition of moves, but the third game is where Gukesh began to shine, picking up an impressive victory after trapping Ding’s bishop and converting his advantage down. Games 4-10 ended up as draws, with the 72-move game 7 being an extremely entertaining encounter where Gukesh’s winning advantages were masterfully defended against by Liren. Both men were equal heading into game 11.
Game 11 was extremely complicated, and after Gukesh initially compromised his position, Ding failed to capitalise and instead lost the game after a knight blunder on move 28. However, game 12 ended in a confident win for Ding after Gukesh’s poor opening play led to a huge Ding advantage in the middlegame, leading some to comment that Ding was playing with “computer-like precision”. Their next game ended in a hard-fought draw despite a winning advantage for Gukesh. With both men once again equal, everything hinged on game 14, their final one.
Gukesh started off hot, playing aggressively and risky in the opening and trying to force a unique, winning position. A draw here would have forced tiebreaker games, leaving Gukesh no choice but to play for the win to secure the championship. He had been consistently playing outside of already-prepared lines throughout the tournament, forcing Ding to waste time calculating and putting him under pressure. Seemingly unconfident in his ability to counterplay, Ding tried to play for a draw by simplifying the position.
By move 47, both men had a bishop, rook and a pawn, with Gukesh having an extra pawn which could be used to play for a win, but with Ding’s best play would be a forced draw. But Ding’s nerves betrayed him, and he surprised everyone by playing 55. Rf2??. This was a huge blunder which offered a rook trade, but crucially also led to a forced bishop trade, leaving Gukesh’s two pawns unstoppable against Ding’s solitary one. Three moves later, Ding resigned and Gukesh Dommaraju became the youngest ever undisputed world champion.
Ding accepted the loss gracefully, stating he had “no regrets” and would continue playing on with more focus on shorter time limits such as rapid or blitz. Perhaps, free from the pressure of being number one, he can regain his self-belief and start consistently showing the flashes of brilliance he kept showing in this tournament. He played a hell of a series, and that final blunder can’t take away from his spectacular performances in games 7 and 12, removing any doubt of him ever being an unworthy champion.
The real news from the WCC, though, is that the sky is the limit for Gukesh. He isn’t even past being a teenager yet, but plays with the precision and levelheadedness of grandmasters twice his age. There’s no doubt that his future title matches will be must-watch for any professional chess fan, and with impending matches with previous champions Viswanathan Anand and Magnus Carlsen, there’s still many roads to travel and games to play before he can be the undeniable “best in the world”.
