ALL RISE, NEW KING ON BOARD

India Grandmaster's persistence pays off as he forces Liren to make a blunder in the closing moments

- ASHOK VENUGOPAL

Squeezing water out of stone. That's one of D Gukesh's signature moves. He loves to suffer but he ensures the opponent suffers with him.

On Thursday, he wanted to suffer. He came in wanting a fistfight and a long match. He came to grind for six hours even in an equal position.

It was. The commentary panel streaming the final had already switched the topic of discussion to Friday's tie-breaks. Then, Ding Liren made one of the worst blunders in the more than 100-year history of the World Championship. Gukesh made wine out of stone to become the 18th and youngest undisputed world champion to spark scenes of pandemonium in the viewing gallery, the fan zone and inside the media centre. A FIDE social media official tripped and fell down but still maintained professional etiquette asking a colleague 'to be ready with the post', journalists were running all over the place and strangers with an Indian persuasion were congratulating and hugging each other.