How Did Gukesh Dommaraju Became World Chess Champion?

The Indian contingent in every facet of sports continues to make their country proud, this time it's an 18-year-old lad from Chennai. Born in May 2006 Gukesh had a dream of becoming the World Chess champion at the age of 7.

18-Year-Old Chennai Lad Creates History

Gukesh began practicing and playing chess in 2013 for an hour, three days a week. He played well in the 1-hour sessions, after his teachers acknowledged his gameplay he started to play more matches.

But, he would only realize his dream of becoming a chess player at the age of 11, becoming the youngest World Chess champion at the age of 18 years. The young Indian maestro went on to defeat Ding Liren of China in a 14-round event that went right down to the wire, in the end, Gukesh became the second Indian after Vishwanath Anand to win the elusive title.

His parents took some time to come to terms with the feat, as this dream ensured that there were plenty of unheard sacrifices & difficulties in shaping up a champion.

Gukesh on His Journey

"I have been dreaming about playing chess at the highest level since when I was 7, but I guess the dream was much bigger for them than it was for me"

The young Indian secured the requisite 7.5 points against 6.5 of Liren after winning the last classical time control game of the 14-game match that seemed headed for a draw for the most part.

Financial Struggles

The journey to reach the podium wasn't easy as the journey demanded a lot of sacrifices from the family. Rajinikanth, Gukesh's father had to leave his well-reputed job as n ENT surgeon, and his mother Padma who is a microbiologist had to take care of the financial expenses.

"We were not doing well financially, at that time I didn't realize the struggles that they used to go through, in 2017-18 we were very low on money so much so that my friend's parents had to sponsor me for the matches. I achieved the fame, but it's them who made the sacrifices"

Despite all the hardships and struggles the youngster did not bog down one bit and continued to chase the dream that he had set for himself at age of age of 11. Gukesh joined the elite list of youngest world chess championship winners, he also became only the second Indian behind legend Vishwanath Anand to win the coveted title. The youngest champion has also beaten the record of Garry Kasparov.

Youngest World Chess Champions

Despite the many challenges, he went on to overtake his idol Anand as India's no.1 last year. coincidentally, it was Vishwanath Anand who guided him at his academy at Westbridge-Anand Academy, a place where India became its youngest world champion.