Chess - The 2024 World Champion

Congratulations, GM Gukesh D, on unleashing the Bobby Fischer momentum and channeling it to this historic win as World Champion. Fischer didn't settle for draws, nor did he.

That said, I feel badly for former champion GM Ding Liren. What he brought to the plate with Games 1 and 12 were the best in the match. This wasn't anywhere worthy of his game, but a win is a win, and the tiebreakers are quite simply ruled out. Gukesh's persistence stood tall up against Ding's slip ups. I stood by Ding while mentioning that Gukesh's age number and that of world champion could still become synonymous with this game. My heart dropped a beat when Ding played cxb5. I trusted that drawing would lead him back to tiebreaker terrain, and Gukesh made the most of it, following his even better game yesterday.

Credit for the above image goes to Chess.com

The notation I discuss below belongs solely to Game 14 of the World Championship that recently concluded:

Commiserations, former and forever 17th world champion, GM Ding Liren. No game this match comes close to Game 1 and Game 12. This win by Gukesh was earned, however, and Gukesh showed sportsmanship in his win speech about Ding's struggles and will to defend his utmost, and that it wouldn't have been the same without him. 

To Ding's credit, he did not lose very badly, and defied the opinion that this championship wouldn't last this long.

Gukesh and team are here to stay. As much as I am from India and I am from Chennai, I didn't pride myself on just rooting for the part of the world I belong to. Before this championship, Ding remained undefeated against Gukesh. It sure rang a bell back to Fischer Vs Spassky, which I duly considered could happen. I applauded for both Ding and Gukesh on each game that both won. As a passionate chess player, I didn't lean towards favoritism as Ding led the score in Game 1. Game 11's score advantage for Gukesh was met with roaring reception, while Game 12 in Ding's favor was silent, up until this game where it was back to the well deserved roars. In line of sportsmanship, I don't dig the selective applauding, but I'm primarily happy for Gukesh on his massive breakthrough as the 2nd World Champion from India and the youngest in World Championship history.