The Simplest Blunder

Ding Liren arrived at the final classical game of his 2024 title defence in Singapore level with challenger Gukesh Dommaraju, then eighteen years old, at 6.5 to 6.5. A draw in game fourteen would have sent the match to rapid tiebreaks, where Ding, by far the more experienced rapid player of the two, would have started as favourite.

Instead, in a fairly balanced position grown from a Reti and King's Indian Attack set up, Ding agreed to trade rooks on move 55 without apparently noticing that the bishops would also be forced off the board shortly afterwards, leaving a king and pawn endgame that was simply lost for White. Commentators at the time called it one of the most surprising errors made at this level in a title deciding game. Ding resigned on move 58.

Gukesh became the youngest ever undisputed World Chess Champion at eighteen. Comparisons to Garry Kasparov, who was 22 when he first won the title, are more about the scale of the achievement than a literal match in age, since the two players qualified through very different eras and formats.