India’s Gukesh Dommaraju became the youngest winner of the World Chess Championship on Thursday after defeating reigning champ Ding Liren of China.

NBC News reported that the 18-year-old won a 7.5-6.5 victory in Game 14 in Singapore and earned a $2.5 million prize for his efforts.

What Gukesh Dommaraju said about his win

“It’s fitting that the match goes to the last game, because we’ve both showed a lot of fighting spirit and played some very entertaining chess,” Gukesh said at a post-match news conference, per the outlet.

The emotional moment that 18-year-old Gukesh Dommaraju became the 18th world chess champion 🥲🏆 pic.twitter.com/jRIZrYeyCF
— Chess.com (@chesscom) December 12, 2024

Despite becoming the second-youngest grandmaster at 12, Gukesh told reporters, “Becoming the world champion doesn’t mean that I’m the best player in the world, obviously there’s Magnus, so it’s also a motivating factor,” referring to Norway’s Magnus Carlsen, who is a five-time World Chess Champion who relinquished his title in 2022 due to a lack of motivation, Reuters reported.

He didn’t expect to win

NBC said Ding made a “crucial blunder” that allowed Gukesh to triumph.

“I probably got so emotional because I did not really expect to win that position,” Gukesh told the media.

He added, “We all know who Ding is — he has been one of the best players in history for several years. For me he is the real World Champion,” according to NBC.

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