D Gukesh reigned supreme at the World Chess Championship in Singapore, defeating defending champion Ding Liren in Singapore. The match reached the decisive 14th game, where both Grandmasters began on equal footing, and it looked like it was going according to Liren’s plan, who was trying to force out a tiebreaker. But a massive blunder in the 55th move saw the Chinese Grandmaster resign and concede to Gukesh.

After becoming the youngest-ever world chess champion, Gukesh decided to skip the year-ending Rapid and Blitz C’ships. In 2025, Gukesh has an action-packed schedule and is set to face India chess legend Viswanathan Anand and even World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen.

Speaking during an event organised by WestBridge Capital, Gukesh said, “Yeah, 2025 will offer a very tough challenge. A lot of new and interesting tournaments are coming up. The world championship was in the past. I’m very happy about it and all the awards and receptions.”

“But now, I have started thinking about new goals, new tournaments and new ways to prepare. The goal, the approach will be the same, to give my best, to keep improving myself, and win as many tournaments as possible.

“So, I am looking forward to a fun year with a lot of learning, a lot of improvements and hopefully a lot of good results,” he added.

Gukesh will face Carlsen and Anand in the Germany leg of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour 2025, which will take place from February 7-14. He will also take on Carlsen at Norway Chess 2025. Gukesh will begin his 2025 season at the Tata Steel Chess Tournament, which will take place in the Netherlands. The tournament will also feature Anish Giri, Erigaisi, Fabiano Caruana, R Praggnanandhaa. Gukesh came second last year, with China’s Wei Yi coming first.

For Gukesh, it will also be about proving Carlsen wrong after the Norwegian downplayed his World C’ship victory. Meanwhile, Gukesh in response, sent a public challenge to Carlsen.