How an Indian teenager became the youngest world chess champion

Indian teenager Jokesh Domaraju shocked the chess world on Thursday when he became the youngest world champion at just 18 years old.

The Chennai-born prodigy defeated defending champion, China's Ding Liren, in a dramatic match in Singapore which he entered as a challenger.

It was the pinnacle of his career to date, his greatest moment in a long line of accomplishments.

Gokic became a grandmaster at the age of 12 years and seven months, and even then, he was open about the fact that he dreamed of becoming a world champion.

In fact, he said he had such ambitions since he was seven years old when he was a spectator at a world title match between Viswanathan Anand and Magnus Carlsen in 2013.

As he admitted in the press conference following his dramatic victory over Deng, he did not think it would happen so quickly.

Jokiss is the 18th world champion since Wilhelm Steinitz won what is considered the first title match in 1886.

Born in May 2006, Jokic is also the youngest player to reach this summit.

He improved the record previously held by Garry Kasparov (born April 1963) who was 22 years old when he won the title in Moscow in November 1985, beating Anatoly Karpov comfortably.

The 14-game series was tied at two wins each after 13 games. It looked as if the fourteenth game was heading towards a draw.

In this case, there would have been intervals played at progressively shorter time controls.

But Ding made a mistake in move 55 and Jokic took advantage of the mistake to win the title.

Over the past three years, the young player has achieved a series of exceptional achievements, culminating in this win.

Jokisch has won the individual gold medal for best performance at the last two Olympics. He led India to a team bronze medal in Chennai in 2022 and a gold medal in 2024 in Budapest.

He also won the Candidates, a tournament that earned him the right to challenge Ding Liren.

Earlier in his teens, Gokesh was dismissed as a potential contender by his mentor, former world champion Viswanathan Anand, or “Vishy sir” as Gokesh calls him. He believed that Gokesh simply did not have enough experience.

In fact, Jokich suffered a seemingly disastrous loss midway through, but then rallied to win the next round and ultimately win the event.

In the title match, Jokisch lost the first game, tied by winning the third game, then advanced in the eleventh game and Ding tied by winning the 12th game.

Match 14 was clearly a tense one with the title and $2.5m (£1.98m) prize fund on the line, but the teenager kept his nerves under control.

Gokesh clearly has an extraordinary talent, but this is not the romantic story of a lone ranger who surprises the world. Chennai GM sits at the top of a robust chess ecosystem, one of the best in the world, perhaps the best.

Gokesh also had strong support from his parents, the Chess Foundation of India, and his school.

There are more than 85 Grand Masters in India, many of whom are not yet of driving age.

Indian teams have recently been successful in winning the Open gold medal (with Jokish at the helm) and the Women's gold medal at the recent Olympics in Budapest.

These big boys are at the top of the pyramid with over 30,000 ranked players, because a large number of Indians play officially sanctioned tournaments.

Jokic has been a professional player since he was about 10 years old. He is mentored by Viswanathan Anand, himself a five-time world champion.

It is sponsored by Westbridge Capital, which supports the Westbridge Anand Chess Academy, an elite training center run by Anand.

Gokesh's parents are both doctors, his father Rajinikanth is a surgeon and his mother Padma is a microbiologist. They both put their careers on hold to pay for their son.

Chess becomes an expensive game when a child has to travel abroad for several months every year, so his parents not only put in their own earnings to support their son, but also asked friends to help finance Gokish's career until it took off.

Importantly, he also received support from his school Velammal Vidyalaya in Mogappair, which allowed him to take time off.

Gokish has interests outside of chess as well: he meditates, swims and plays tennis.

His stated goals are simple – he wants to become the best chess player in the world – to replace the current number one, Magnus Carlsen.

He also wants to have a “very long career at the top.” He also believes that the title is only one step, albeit a very important one, in this life’s journey.