Watch: D Gukesh Celebrates World Chess Championship Win With Bungee Jump

Days after becoming the youngest-ever world chess champion, Indian Grandmaster D Gukesh celebrated his victory and historic win by conquering something else: his fear of heights. According to Chess.com, the 18-year-old honoured a pact he made with his trainer, Polish grandmaster Grzegorz Gajewski, to do bungee jumping despite his fear of heights if became a world champion by defeating China's Ding Liren. So, before leaving Singapore, Gukesh kept his promise and visited Skypark Sentosa, where he performed his first-ever bungee jump. 

Taking to X (formerly Twitter), Gukesh shared a video of him doing bungee jumping in Singapore on Monday. “I did it!” he wrote in the caption of the post. In the clip, when the 18-year-old was asked how he felt about going for his first bungee jump, he admitted he was “scared,” but also stated he was excited about the experience. 

Take a look at the video below: 

I did it! pic.twitter.com/FUBpo5m82N

— Gukesh D (@DGukesh) December 16, 2024

Since being shared, the video has garnered more than 964,000 views and hundreds of likes and comments. 

“You did it. You made us all proud. You got it in you,” commented one user. “This is nothing infront of what you did for us! Cheers Gukesh, may you reign!” expressed another. 

“You Dreamed It And Made It Come True. Much Respect,” said a third user. “You did this twice. First when you won you had a mental jump and now the physical jump,” added a fourth. 

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Meanwhile, after last week's triumph, Gukesh became the second Indian to win the title after Viswanathan Anand. He beat the record previously held by Garry Kasparov (22 years 6 months 27 days). His victory in game 14 gave him a score of 7.5 against Ding's 6.5. Gukesh termed the win as the "best moment of his life" in the post-match press conference. He also praised Ding, saying he "fought like a true champion". 

On the other hand, Ding said in the post-match press conference, "I was totally in shock when I realized I made a blunder. I will continue to play. I think I played my best tournament of the year. It could be better, but considering yesterday's lucky survive it is a fair result to lose in the end. I have no regrets."

Notably, in April, the 18-year-old also created history as he won the FIDE Candidates Chess Tournament 2024, becoming the youngest-ever challenger to the world title held by Ding Liren.