The fourteenth and final game of the world championship match will go down in chess history because of its shocking ending: the world champion played it very solidly with the white pieces and soon made it clear that he would be satisfied with a draw, which would have resulted in a tiebreak. If the time for consideration had been shortened, he would have been the clear favorite as number two in the Rapid world rankings, as Gukesh is only ranked 45th here. In order to force the longed-for draw, he sacrificed a pawn in order to achieve an objectively clearly drawn endgame. Gukesh again showed great fighting spirit and did everything he could to keep the pressure on. But Ding defended prudently and everything pointed to a relatively uneventful draw.
But on the 55th move, the world champion made an incredible mistake, the likes of which have probably never been seen in the history of the world championships. Gukesh seized the opportunity and became the 18th world chess champion at the age of 18. After this great victory, he could hardly hold back tears of joy and relief, but in the press conference he found beautiful and respectful words for his opponent, worthy of a champion.
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