D Gukesh created history on December 12, when he defeated Ding Liren in a nerve-wracking final to become the youngest World Chess Champion at just 18 years old. He became the second Indian after the legendary Vishwanathan Anand to win the biggest prize in chess. Gukesh, incidentally, is also a student of Anand, as he is a pupil of the chess legend's Westbridge Anand Chess Academy (WACA). Anand, has now shared his first reaction after D Gukesh created history in Singapore.

In a heartwarming post on his X account, Vishwanathan Anand said that Gukesh's World Championship win is a proud moment for chess, for India and for WACA as well. He also said that this win was personal moment of pride for him. Anand also lauded Ding Liren for his impressive display.

"Congratulations! It's a proud moment for chess, a proud moment for India, a proud moment for WACA, and for me, a very personal moment of pride. Ding played a very exciting match and showed the champion he is," he wrote.

The match between D Gukesh and Ding Liren was one for the ages as the game looked set to head into the tiebreak. After the 13th game, both were tied at 6.5 points each as the match headed for the 14th game which was the decider. Both competitors were heading for a tiebreak, especially when Gukesh decided to extend the endgame. Many experts including Vishwanathan Anand predicted that the match would end in a draw.

However, the match finally turned in D Gukesh's favour, when DIng Liren committed a massive blunder in the 55th move of the game. This led to Gukesh winning the match, as Liren conceded.

Gukesh became the youngest World Chess Champion at just 18 years old. He broke the record of Garry Kasparov and Magnus Carlsen, both of whom won their first World Championships at 22 years of age.

After the match, Gukesh got emotional as could not hold back his tears.

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