Indian teenager Gukesh Dommaraju rose to the pinnacle of chess by dethroning China’s Ding Liren to become the youngest ever world champion in Singapore with a $2.5m check.

The 18-year-old from Chennai has long been a superstar in the chess world, having attained the status of chess grandmaster at the age of 12 and has just become the 18th world chess champion.

In doing so, Gukesh shattered the age record held by Garry Kasparov, who was 22 when he toppled Anatoly Karpov in 1985.

Gukesh was enrolled in chess sessions after school because his father, a surgeon, and his mother, a medical professor, needed somewhere to put him. His talent was spotted by coaches, who encouraged his family to invest in his training.

In 2019, while still in high school, he was crowned a grandmaster at the age of 12 years and seven months – the third youngest, in history.

The teenager has spoken before about how yoga and mindful thinking has helped him deal with the pressures of his chess career.