The Seven Moments That Decided The World Chess Championship

How did Gukesh Dommaraju become the 18th World Champion? It took 14 grueling games for him to pull out a narrow victory against GM Ding Liren. Let's take a look back at the key moments that determined the match.

Game 1: Ding Shocks The Chess World

Going into the match, nearly every prognosticator had Gukesh as a heavy favorite. However, in the very first game, Ding demonstrated why he was the reigning World Champion. With the Black pieces, he took the initiative in a sharp French Defense and put Gukesh on the defensive.

The critical moment came in the position below, where both players saw 31.Bc5! followed by an unsound queen sacrifice. After that, Gukesh gave up on the line, and Ding won without too much more of a fight. However, 31.Bc5 Qxg4 32.Rf3! would have given Gukesh a good chance to defend. 

When Gukesh missed the best move, Ding could confidently convert the advantage and take the lead in the match!

Game 3: Gukesh Wakes Up

After a quiet second game, Gukesh came to fight in game three. Ding played well on the black side of a Queen's Gambit Declined until a critical moment on move 18.

Suddenly, the score was tied, and the players kept it that way with a long, tense streak of draws.

Game 7: Ding Escapes

In the seventh game, Gukesh found a strong opening idea and achieved a winning position, although it was always complicated. After a masterful defense, Ding fought his way to a difficult endgame. Gukesh thought he had found a win but missed one detail, which allowed Ding a surprising reprieve.

Game 11: Gukesh Takes The Lead

After seven consecutive draws, Gukesh finally broke through in a back-and-forth game 11. Ding was better out of the opening but chose a slow plan that allowed Gukesh to be in a very comfortable position. In Ding's time pressure, Gukesh targetted the b7-pawn and Ding's 28.Qc8?? allowed a tactical shot to win a piece and the game.

The crowd ERUPTS as GUKESH WINS!!! 😍#DingGukesh pic.twitter.com/6r2fO0p4YX

— Rakesh Kulkarni (@itherocky) December 8, 2024

Game 12: Ding Strikes Back

Ding didn't stay behind in the match for long. In the very next game, he dominated straight from the opening. The critical moment came early on when Gukesh underestimated an exchange sacrifice from Ding. He avoided taking the material but completely gave up the center, and Ding soon had complete control of the position.

Giri: "So far this game reminds me of peak Ding, when I played him, just engine stuff all the way" https://t.co/eShguqxrOi

— chess24 (@chess24com) December 9, 2024

Game 13: A Narrow Escape

In one of the most exciting games of the whole match, Gukesh unleashed two weeks of intense preparation against Ding's French Defense, gained an edge, and had one moment where it was possible to put the game away.

The game was complicated throughout, and understandably, Gukesh couldn't find the only move to push the advantage from promising to decisive.

On move 31, he needed to exchange rooks before centralizing his knight. If he had made the trade first, Black's remaining defenders would have been stretched too thin, but once Ding found 31...Rf8, the worst was behind him. The reigning champion defended heroically, and the players remained tied until the final classical game.

Game 14: A New King Of Chess

In the words of Ernest Hemmingway, the final game in the World Championship match fell apart for Ding "gradually and then all at once." He initially had a promising position and then initiated a series of trades to simplify into a drawn endgame.

He even sacrificed a pawn to reach a rook and bishop ending, with only three black and two white pawns remaining on the board. The game was still holdable, but low on time and under immense pressure, Ding played one careless move, and it was all over.

Here are the final moments of the match.

With the win, Gukesh won the world championship by a score of 7.5-6.5. Congratulations to the youngest-ever undisputed champion of chess!

What was your favorite moment from the 2024 World Championship? Let us know in the comments.