Gukesh Dommaraju is the new World Chess Champion

The world has a new chess champion. Grandmaster Gukesh Dommaraju, 18, on Thursday became the youngest person to attain this goal when he won the last game of the 14-game match, taking the title for India.

Scores were tied after Round 13 in the 14-game 2024 FIDE World Championship Chess Match in Singapore. Former titleholder Ding Liren, 32, and Dommaraju, the challenger, had played to a fighting draw in Game 13, leaving the Championship wide open for the final game.

When Liren won Game 1 of the match, it surprised many, even the analysts who have information at their fingertips and can make credible deductions. Liren had won only two classical games for 2024 at the Tata Tournament in the Netherlands. Incidentally, one of those games was against Dommaraju. That was in January.

Since then, however, Dommaraju, an improved player, won the rigorous Candidates Tournament in April in Toronto, and qualified to play the World Champion for the title. I backed Dommaraju to win the Championship because he is younger and has been more active for 2024 in contrast to Liren. Dommaraju also boasts a higher ELO rating of 2783; Liren’s rating is 2728. Higher ELO ratings usually portray the winner of a game, tournament or match. Bobby Fischer was higher ELO rated than champion Boris Spassky when he won the World Championship title in 1972.