Lesson
White to move. Main line: 1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 c5 3. Bg2 Nc6 4. d4 e6 5. O-O cxd4 6. Nxd4 Nge7 7. c4 Nxd4 8. Qxd4 Nc6 9. Qd1 d4 10. e3 Bc5 11. exd4 Bxd4 12. Nc3 O-O 13. Nb5 Bb6 14. b3 a6 15. Nc3 Bd4 16. Bb2 e5 17. Qd2 Be6 18. Nd5 b5 19. cxb5 axb5 20. Nf4 exf4 21. Bxc6 Bxb2 22. Qxb2 Rb8 23. Rfd1 Qb6 24. Bf3 fxg3 25. hxg3 b4 26. a4 bxa3 27. Rxa3 g6 28. Qd4 Qb5 29. b4 Qxb4 30. Qxb4 Rxb4 31. Ra8 Rxa8 32. Bxa8 g5 33. Bd5 Bf5 34. Rc1 Kg7 35. Rc7 Bg6 36. Rc4 Rb1+ 37. Kg2 Re1 38. Rb4 h5 39. Ra4 Re5 40. Bf3 Kh6 41. Kg1 Re6 42. Rc4 g4 43. Bd5 Rd6 44. Bb7 Kg5 45. f3 f5 46. fxg4 hxg4 47. Rb4 Bf7 48. Kf2 Rd2+ 49. Kg1 Kf6 50. Rb6+ Kg5 51. Rb4 Be6 52. Ra4 Rb2 53. Ba8 Kf6 54. Rf4 Ke5 55. Rf2 Rxf2 56. Kxf2 Bd5 57. Bxd5 Kxd5 58. Ke3 Ke5
For most of the game, Black pressed without a clear breakthrough. The turning point was 55.Rf2?, offering a rook exchange that transformed a drawable bishop ending into a lost pawn ending.
After 55...Rxf2 56.Kxf2 Bd5!, Black forces the bishops off. Gukesh’s king reaches the center with the protected extra pawn, and Ding resigned after 58...Ke5.
The game ended by resignation, not checkmate. Its historical weight comes from the result: Gukesh won the match 7½–6½ and became the youngest undisputed World Champion.
The youngest undisputed World Champion
Game 14 of the 2024 World Championship in Singapore decided the match in Gukesh Dommaraju’s favour against the defending champion Ding Liren, making him the youngest undisputed World Champion in the history of the title.
The match had been level going into the final classical game, so this was the last chance for either player to avoid tiebreaks.
A drawn rook endgame, lost
The game reached a rook endgame that was holdable, and it was decided by an error in that endgame rather than by anything in the opening or middlegame.
It is an uncomfortable way for a title match to end, and it is also the most common way that long games are actually decided: technique under fatigue.
Rook endgames decide more important games than opening preparation does.
Knowing a position is theoretically drawn is not the same as being able to hold it after five hours.
The last game of a level match is played under conditions no amount of preparation removes.
Source: World Chess Championship 2024 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Chess_Championship_2024
Source: Gukesh Dommaraju — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gukesh_Dommaraju
Source: Ding Liren — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ding_Liren