India's Gukesh Dommaraju, 18, Becomes Youngest-Ever Undisputed World Chess Champion

The prodigy broke a record formerly held by Garry Kasparov.

Gukesh Dommaraju and Ding Liren at the FIDE World Chess Championship on Nov. 25, 2024. / Roslan Rahman/AFP via Getty Images

One of the world's oldest games has its youngest-ever undisputed champion.

Gukesh Dommaraju of India defeated Ding Liren of China Thursday to win the 2024 FIDE World Chess Championship, giving him chess's highest honor at the age of 18. Dommaraju won the best-of-14 series by a score of 7 1/2–6 1/2, taking the 14th game thanks to a massive tactical error by Liren.

The previous youngest undisputed world chess champion was 22-year-old Garry Kasparov of the Soviet Union, who beat countryman Anatoly Karpov 13–11 in 1985 (Ukraine's Ruslan Ponomariov won a split title in 2002 at 18).

Dommaraju, a Chennai native, achieved the ranking of grandmaster at the age of 12 in Jan. 2019—the third-youngest player ever to receive the title.

"It's a proud moment for chess, a proud moment for India... and for me, a very personal moment of pride," Dommaraju—India's second-ever world chess champion—said after the match via Frances Mao of the BBC.

---

More of the Latest Sports News

feed