Chess prodigy

A chess prodigy is a child prodigy who can beat experienced adult players, and even masters, at chess. Some chess prodigies have gone on to become World Chess Champion.

Eleven-year-old Sammy Reshevsky, New York 1922

Early chess prodigies

Early chess prodigies were 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 be unofficial World Champion (before the official title existed), Capablanca became the third World Champion, and Reshevsky—while never attaining the title—was amongst the top few players in the world for many decades.

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 record has been held by Sergey Karjakin (then Ukraine) since 2002. 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.

(NOTE: all players are listed by their nationality at the time of gaining the title, not their current or later nationality.)

List of youngest grandmasters since 1950
YearPlayerCountryAge
1950David Bronstein Soviet Union26 years
1952Tigran Petrosian Soviet Union23 years
1955Boris Spassky Soviet Union18 years
1958Bobby Fischer United States15 years, 6 months, 1 day
1991Judit Polgár Hungary15 years, 4 months, 28 days
1994Péter Lékó Hungary14 years, 4 months, 22 days
1997Étienne Bacrot France14 years, 2 months, 0 days
1997Ruslan Ponomariov Ukraine14 years, 0 months, 17 days
1999Bu Xiangzhi China13 years, 10 months, 13 days
2002Sergey Karjakin Ukraine12 years, 7 months, 0 days

This is a list of the players who became Grandmasters before their 15th birthday.

Grandmasters younger than 15 years old
PlayerCountryAgeBirth year
Sergey Karjakin Ukraine12 years, 7 months, 0 days1990
Gukesh D India12 years, 7 months, 17 days2006
Javokhir Sindarov Uzbekistan12 years, 10 months, 5 days2005
Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu India12 years, 10 months, 13 days2005
Nodirbek Abdusattorov Uzbekistan13 years, 1 month, 11 days2004
Parimarjan Negi India13 years, 4 months, 22 days1993
Magnus Carlsen Norway13 years, 4 months, 27 days1990
Wei Yi China13 years, 8 months, 23 days[2]1999
Raunak Sadhwani India13 years, 9 months, 28 days[3]2005
Bu Xiangzhi China13 years, 10 months, 13 days1985
Samuel Sevian United States13 years, 10 months, 27 days[4]2000
Richárd Rapport Hungary13 years, 11 months, 6 days[5]1996
Teimour Radjabov Azerbaijan14 years, 0 months, 14 days1987
Ruslan Ponomariov Ukraine14 years, 0 months, 17 days1983
Nihal Sarin  India 14 years, 1 month, 1 day 2004
Awonder Liang United States14 years, 1 month, 20 days[6][7]2003
Wesley So Philippines14 years, 1 month, 28 days[8]1993
Étienne Bacrot France14 years, 2 months, 0 days1983
Illya Nyzhnyk Ukraine14 years, 3 months, 2 days[9]1996
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave France14 years, 4 months, 6 days[10]1990
Péter Lékó Hungary14 years, 4 months, 22 days1979
Jorge Cori Peru14 years, 5 months, 15 days[11]1995
Hou Yifan China14 years, 6 months, 16 days[12]1994
Jeffery Xiong United States14 years, 6 months, 25 days[13]2000
Anish Giri Russia14 years, 7 months, 2 days[14]1994
Yuriy Kuzubov Ukraine14 years, 7 months, 12 days[15]1990
Bogdan-Daniel Deac Romania14 years, 7 months, 27 days[16]2001
Dariusz Świercz Poland14 years, 7 months, 29 days1994
Alireza Firouzja Iran14 years, 8 months, 2 days2003
Aryan Chopra India14 years, 9 months, 3 days[17]2001
Nguyễn Ngọc Trường Sơn Vietnam14 years, 9 months, 22 days[18]1990
Kirill Shevchenko Ukraine14 years, 9 months, 23 days2002
Vincent Keymer Germany14 years, 11 months, 4 days[19]2004
Arjun Erigaisi India14 years, 11 months, 13 days2003
Daniil Dubov Russia14 years, 11 months, 14 days[20]1996
Ray Robson United States14 years, 11 months, 16 days[21]1994
Fabiano Caruana Italy14 years, 11 months, 20 days[22]1992
Yu Yangyi China14 years, 11 months, 23 days[23]1994

Here are the holders of the record for the youngest ever female to become a grandmaster (not to be confused with the lesser Woman Grandmaster title):

Youngest female grandmasters
YearPlayerCountryAge
1978Nona Gaprindashvili Soviet Union37 years
1984Maia Chiburdanidze Soviet Union23 years
1991Susan Polgar Hungary21 years
1991Judit Polgár Hungary15 years, 4 months
2002Humpy Koneru India15 years 1 month
2008Hou Yifan China14 years, 6 months[24]

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. 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. David Howell defeated John Nunn in a blitz game at the age of eight.[25] In 2009 Hetul Shah beat GM Nurlan Ibrayev at age of nine years and sixth months at the Parsvnath Open to become the youngest player to defeat a Grandmaster under standard time controls.[26] This record was broken in 2012 by Awonder Liang when he defeated Larry Kaufman at the Washington International at the age of nine years and 111 days.[27]

References
  1. "Chess prodigies and mini-grandmasters". 10 January 2006. Retrieved 8 August 2017.
  2. Wei Yi has become the youngest GM in the world Archived February 28, 2013, at the Wayback Machine
  3. "Raunak Sadhwani becomes India's 65th Grandmaster"."Raunak Sadhwani becomes India's 65th Grandmaster".
  4. "Youngest-ever American Chess Grandmaster crowned in St. Louis". 23 November 2014. Retrieved 8 August 2017.
  5. "Richard Rapport Becomes Hungary's Youngest Grandmaster - Chessdom". players.chessdom.com. Retrieved 8 August 2017.
  6. "Abdusattorov (13) Second Youngest GM In History". 31 October 2017. Retrieved 1 November 2017.
  7. Polgar, Susan (30 May 2017). "Awonder Liang has earned his final GM norm at 14 years and 1 month! Congratulations to Awonder and the Liang family! @USChess @websterupic.twitter.com/hecjYDMbQz". Retrieved 8 August 2017.
  8. 14-year-old Filipino is newest grandmaster Archived January 17, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  9. "GM title for Illya Nyzhnyk in Groningen". 1 January 2011. Retrieved 8 August 2017.
  10. "British and French championships". 20 August 2005. Retrieved 8 August 2017.
  11. Cori achieved his final GM norm in October 2009, but he crossed the 2500 rating mark during a tournament in January 2010
  12. Hou Yifan – the youngest female grandmaster in history (Chessbase, December 8, 2008) gives 14-6-2, but this cannot be correct because that date (August 29) was the first day of the Women's World Chess Championship 2008. Chessbase appears to have used the first day of the championship, instead of the day she qualified for the final and earned her 3rd norm (September 12).
  13. Ramirez, Alejandro (1 June 2015). "Jeffery Xiong rocks Chicago". ChessBase. Retrieved 5 September 2015.
  14. Anish Giri, 14, makes his final GM norm ChessBase January 31, 2009
  15. "Yuriy Kuzubov joins the mini-GM club". 7 September 2004. Retrieved 8 August 2017.
  16. "The chess games of Bogdan-Daniel Deac". www.chessgames.com. Retrieved 8 August 2017.
  17. Staff, Scroll. "Delhi's Aryan, 14, Secures Grandmaster Title". Retrieved 2016-09-17.
  18. Staff, Scroll. "The world's second-youngest grandmaster". Retrieved 2018-01-14.
  19. Schormann, Conrad (2019-10-20). "„It should have come earlier": 14 year old Vincent Keymer and the Grandmaster title". perlenvombodensee.de. Retrieved 20 October 2019.
  20. Satrapa, James (2011-08-07). "Daniil Dubov, grandmaster at fourteen". ChessBase.com. Retrieved 8 August 2011.
  21. Ray Robson is the new youngest GM Archived October 16, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
  22. "Who was the future GM? Fabiano Caruana, Italy's top grandmaster!". 18 October 2007. Retrieved 8 August 2017.
  23. "Chess prodigies and mini-grandmasters". 10 January 2006. Retrieved 8 August 2017.
  24. WWCC - Nalchik 2008 - and now there are just four!, FIDE web site, September 9, 2008
  25. "9-year-old Hetul Shah (India) youngest ever to beat a GM". Chess.com. 31 August 2011. Retrieved 15 August 2020.
  26. McClain, Dylan Loeb (17 January 2009). "9-Year-Old Defies the Ratings and Defeats a Grandmaster". The New York Times. Retrieved 15 August 2020.
  27. "Awonder Liang Now World's Youngest Grandmaster". chess.com. 10 August 2017. Retrieved 15 August 2020.
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