Chess prodigy

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Template:Short description

Samuel Reshevsky playing chess with Douglas Fairbanks, as Charlie Chaplin watches them during filming of the American silent film The Three Musketeers, 1921

A chess prodigy is a young child who possesses an aptitude for chess that far exceeds what might be expected at their age. Their prodigious talent will often enable them to defeat experienced adult players and even titled chess masters. Some chess prodigies have progressed to become grandmasters or even World Chess Champions.

Early chess prodigies

Early chess prodigies included Paul Morphy (1837–1884) and José Raúl Capablanca (1888–1942), both of whom won matches against strong adult opponents at the age of 12, and Samuel Reshevsky (1911–1992), who was giving simultaneous exhibitions at the age of six.[1] Morphy went on to become the world's leading player before the formal title of World Champion existed. Capablanca became the third World Champion, and Reshevsky—while never attaining the title—was amongst the world's elite players for many decades.

Arturo Pomar (1931–2016) was another to be labelled a prodigy by chess writers.[2][3] He played his first international tournament (Madrid 1943) at the age of 11 and went on to become Spain's first grandmaster.

Jutta Hempel (born 1960) at the age of 6 played 12 simultaneous games and won 9.5-2.5.[4]

Youngest to defeat a grandmaster

There is often widespread attention when a young player defeats a Grandmaster, whether in a standard tournament game or less formal conditions.

File:Magnus Carlsen versus Ivan Sokolov.jpg
13-year-old Magnus Carlsen playing against 35-year-old Ivan Sokolov in 2004

Formal conditions

The youngest player to defeat a grandmaster under standard time controls is Ashwath Kaushik of Singapore, who in February 2024 defeated Jacek Stopa at the age of 8 years, 6 months, and 11 days.[5]

The previous record was set by Leonid Ivanovic of Serbia, who in January 2024 defeated Milko Popchev at the Novogodisnji rating ŠSB in Belgrade, Serbia at the age of 8 years, 11 months, and 7 days.[6][7]

In January 2025, Aarit Kapil of India became the third youngest player worldwide to defeat a Grandmaster under classical time controls, at the age of 9 years, 2 months, and 18 days old.[5]

Informal conditions

In 1976, a ten-year-old Nigel Short beat Viktor Korchnoi as a participant in a simultaneous exhibition, the only game Korchnoi lost in the event.[8]

In 1999, David Howell defeated John Nunn in a blitz game at the age of eight.[8]

In 2021, 10-year-old Frederick Waldhausen Gordon, from Scotland, won against GM Bogdan Lalic in an online rapid 10+5 game in the ECF Grand Prix Rapid Event 1 held on lichess.org.[9][10][11]

In 2023, 8-year-old Roman Shogdzhiev, from Russia, defeated GM Jakhongir Vakhidov and GM Johan-Sebastian Christiansen in the World Rapid Chess Championship 2023,[12] and after a couple of days defeated GM Kirill Shevchenko, GM Alan Pichot and GM Pranav V in the World Blitz Chess Championship 2023.[13]

List of youngest grandmasters

Since 1950, when the Grandmaster (GM) title was introduced by FIDE, one measure of chess prodigies is the age at which they gain the GM title. Below are players who have held the record for the youngest grandmaster; the age listed is the age at which they qualified for the title. This is not equal to the age at which they officially became grandmasters, because GM titles can only be awarded at FIDE congresses. The country listed indicates the federation the player was affiliated with at the time of gaining the title, not their current or later affiliation. The first record holder was David Bronstein, who was the youngest of the 27 inaugural players to be awarded the title by FIDE in 1950 at age 26; the record is currently held by Abhimanyu Mishra, who qualified at age 12.

List of world record holders for the "youngest grandmaster" title since 1950
Year Player Country Age
1950 David Bronstein Script error: No such module "flag". 26 years
1952 Tigran Petrosian Script error: No such module "flag". 23 years
1955 Boris Spassky Script error: No such module "flag". 18 years
1958 Bobby Fischer Script error: No such module "flag". 15 years, 6 months, 1 day
1991 Judit Polgár Script error: No such module "flag". 15 years, 4 months, 28 days[14][15]
1994 Péter Lékó Script error: No such module "flag". 14 years, 4 months, 22 days
1997 Étienne Bacrot Script error: No such module "flag". 14 years, 2 months, 0 days
1997 Ruslan Ponomariov Script error: No such module "flag". 14 years, 0 months, 17 days
1999 Bu Xiangzhi Script error: No such module "flag". 13 years, 10 months, 13 days
2002 Sergey Karjakin Script error: No such module "flag". 12 years, 7 months, 0 days
2021 Abhimanyu Mishra Script error: No such module "flag". 12 years, 4 months, 25 days[16]

This is a list of the players who fulfilled the requirements to attain the title of Grandmaster before their 14th birthday. Players in italics have been candidates for the World Chess Championship. Players in bold are or have been the World Chess Champion.

Grandmasters younger than 14 years old
Player Country Age Birth year
Abhimanyu Mishra Script error: No such module "flag". 12 years, 4 months, 25 days 2009
Faustino Oro Script error: No such module "flag". 12 years, 6 months, 26 days 2013
Sergey Karjakin Script error: No such module "flag". 12 years, 7 months, 0 days 1990
Gukesh Dommaraju Script error: No such module "flag". 12 years, 7 months, 17 days 2006
Yağız Kaan Erdoğmuş Script error: No such module "flag". 12 years, 9 months, 29 days 2011
Javokhir Sindarov Script error: No such module "flag". 12 years, 10 months, 8 days[17] 2005
R Praggnanandhaa Script error: No such module "flag". 12 years, 10 months, 13 days 2005
Nodirbek Abdusattorov Script error: No such module "flag". 13 years, 1 month, 11 days 2004
Parimarjan Negi Script error: No such module "flag". 13 years, 4 months, 22 days 1993
Magnus Carlsen Script error: No such module "flag". 13 years, 4 months, 27 days 1990
Ivan Zemlyanskii Script error: No such module "flag". 13 years, 8 months, 21 days 2010
Wei Yi Script error: No such module "flag". 13 years, 8 months, 23 days[18] 1999
Andy Woodward Script error: No such module "flag". 13 years, 8 months, 28 days 2010
Raunak Sadhwani Script error: No such module "flag". 13 years, 9 months, 28 days[19] 2005
Bu Xiangzhi Script error: No such module "flag". 13 years, 10 months, 13 days 1985
Samuel Sevian Script error: No such module "flag". 13 years, 10 months, 27 days[20] 2000
Richárd Rapport Script error: No such module "flag". 13 years, 11 months, 6 days[21] 1996

Note: Karjakin has changed federations since attaining the grandmaster title.

List of youngest female grandmasters

Below are the holders of the record for the youngest female player to qualify for the grandmaster title (not to be confused with the Woman Grandmaster title). (Judit Polgár was also the youngest player of any gender to qualify for the grandmaster title when she did so.):[14][15]

Youngest female grandmasters
Year Player Country Age
1978 Nona Gaprindashvili Script error: No such module "flag". 37 years
1984 Maia Chiburdanidze Script error: No such module "flag". 23 years
1991 Susan Polgar Script error: No such module "flag". 21 years
1991 Judit Polgár Script error: No such module "flag". 15 years, 4 months[14][15]
2002 Koneru Humpy Script error: No such module "flag". 15 years, 1 month[22][23]
2008 Hou Yifan Script error: No such module "flag". 14 years, 6 months[24]

References

Page Template:Reflist/styles.css has no content.

  1. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Chess prodigies and mini-grandmasters". 10 January 2006. Retrieved 8 August 2017.
  2. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Saidy, Anthony; Lessing, Norman (1974). The World of Chess. William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. p. 13. ISBN 0-394-48777-X.
  3. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Whyld, Kenneth (1986). Guinness Chess, The Records. Guinness Publishing Ltd. p. 259. ISBN 0851124550.
  4. ^ The chess games of Jutta Hempel. ChessGames.com. Accessed November 29, 2024.
  5. ^ a b Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Gaur, Sagar (2024-12-09). "9-year-old Aarit Kapil becomes youngest Indian to beat a chess Grandmaster". The Indian Express. Retrieved 2025-01-24.
  6. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Svensen, Tarjei (21 January 2024). "8-Year-Old Makes History Becoming Youngest To Beat Grandmaster In Classical Chess". chess.com.
  7. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Eight Year Old Leonid Ivanoivc Becomes Youngest Player To Beat GM In Classical Chess". 22 January 2024.
  8. ^ a b Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."9-year-old Hetul Shah (India) youngest ever to beat a GM". Chess.com. 31 August 2011. Archived from the original on 2020-11-25. Retrieved 15 August 2020.
  9. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Brown, Angie (22 May 2021). "news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife". BBC News. www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 22 May 2021 – via archive.today.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  10. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Rapid Chess • FREDERICKtheMATE vs GM BogdanLalic". 21 March 2021.
  11. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."ECF Grand Prix Rapid Event 1 by ECF Online Rapid Grand Prix Series 2021: Standard 10+5 #ILOHq9MS". 21 March 2021.
  12. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."World Rapid Chess Championship 2023 Results".
  13. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."World Blitz Chess Championship 2023 Results".
  14. ^ a b c Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Judit Polgar: How I beat Fischer's record". ChessBase. 5 February 2013.
  15. ^ a b c Template:Cite Chessgames.com game
  16. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Guinness World Records Young Achievers - Abhimanyu Mishra". Guinness World Records. Retrieved 2023-07-02.
  17. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Peterson, Macauley (18 October 2018). "Sindarov: second youngest GM ever". ChessBase.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  18. ^ Wei Yi has become the youngest GM in the world Script error: No such module "webarchive".
  19. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Rao, Rakesh (20 October 2019). "Raunak Sadhwani becomes India's 65th Grandmaster". The Hindu.Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Rao, Rakesh (20 October 2019). "Raunak Sadhwani becomes India's 65th Grandmaster". The Hindu.
  20. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Youngest-ever American Chess Grandmaster crowned in St. Louis". 23 November 2014. Retrieved 8 August 2017.
  21. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Richard Rapport Becomes Hungary's Youngest Grandmaster - Chessdom". players.chessdom.com. Archived from the original on 28 July 2017. Retrieved 8 August 2017.
  22. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Humpy emerges winner at Elekes". The Times of India. 29 May 2002. Retrieved 7 September 2023.
  23. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Humpy beats Judit Polgar by three months". Chess News. 31 May 2002. Retrieved 17 February 2015.
  24. ^ WWCC - Nalchik 2008 - and now there are just four! Script error: No such module "webarchive"., FIDE web site, 9 September 2008

Lua error in mw.title.lua at line 404: bad argument #2 to 'title.new' (unrecognized namespace name 'Portal').

Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Navbox/configuration' not found.

Retrieved from "https://cosmopedia.co/index.php?title=Chess_prodigy&oldid=165977"