With no winner in the final classical game - Game 14 - of the World Chess Championship match on Thursday, December 12, GM Ding Liren and GM Gukesh Dommaraju, were set to fight it out in the tiebreaks on Friday.

But an endgame blunder by the reigning world champion handed the title to the teenager.

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A win in the mega finale on Thursday sealed the title for Gukesh.

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On Thursday, defending world champion GM Ding Liren, 32, started with the advantage of playing with white pieces, the odds stacked against his challenger, 18-year-old Indian star GM Gukesh Dommaraju, in the final classical round of the World Chess Championship 2024 match at the Resort World Sentosa in Singapore.

Earlier, Gukesh appeared to be cruising towards his maiden title run when he beat Ding in Game 11 with white pieces but the Chinese grandmaster made a sensational comeback with a win in Game 12, levelling the scores.

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Ding scripted a similar comeback in the last edition when he was trailing by 5-6 against GM Ian Nepomniachtchi after 11 games, winning the next games and pushing the contest into tiebreakers. In the last edition, Ding won the tiebreaker and was crowned as champion.

The 18-year-old from Chennai beat Ding, in the final classical game, becoming not just the 18th World Champion but also the youngest in history, breaking the record set by Garry Kasparov in 1985.