Gukesh Dommaraju became the youngest world chess champion Thursday when he beat champion Ding Liren in the final match of the World Chess Championship in Singapore.

It had been an unexpectedly close contest in Singapore with Ding Liren. When he won, the normally stoic Gukesh clasped his hands at the board and burst into tears.

His triumph also broke a decades-old record set by Garry Kasparov, who had been the youngest world champion at 22 in 1985. Born on May 29, 2006, in Chennai to a Telugu family, Gukesh Dommaraju’s journey to chess greatness began at the age of seven.