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 the game of 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 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.

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.

13-year-old Magnus Carlsen formally playing against 35-year-old
Ivan Sokolov, 2004

Formal conditions

The youngest player to defeat a grandmaster under standard time controls is Awonder Liang, who in 2012 defeated Larry Kaufman at the Washington International at the age of 9 years and 111 days.[4]

The previous record was set in 2009, when Hetul Shah defeated GM Nurlan Ibrayev at the age of nine years and six months at the Parsvnath Open.[5][6]

Informal conditions

In 1999, David Howell defeated John Nunn in a blitz game at the age of eight.[6]

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.[6]

In March 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.[7][8][9]

In August 2020, 9-year-old Tanitoluwa Adewumi, a Nigerian refugee living in the US, defeated GM Hikaru Nakamura in a blitz game on chess.com.[10]

In December 2023, 8-year-old Roman Shogdzhiev, from Russia, defeated GM Jakhongir Vakhidov and GM Johan-Sebastian Christiansen in the World Rapid Chess Championship 2023,[11] and after a couple of days defeated GM Kirill Shevchenko, GM Alan Pichot and GM Pranav V in the World Blitz Chess Championship 2023[12]

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 is currently held by Abhimanyu Mishra. 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.

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[13][14]
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 Russia12 years, 7 months, 0 days
2021Abhimanyu Mishra United States12 years, 4 months, 25 days[15]

This is a list of the players who fulfilled the requirements to attain the title of Grandmaster before their 14th birthday.

Grandmasters younger than 14 years old
PlayerCountryAgeBirth year
Abhimanyu Mishra United States12 years, 4 months, 25 days2009
Sergey Karjakin Russia12 years, 7 months, 0 days1990
Gukesh Dommaraju 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[16]1999
Raunak Sadhwani India13 years, 9 months, 28 days[17]2005
Bu Xiangzhi China13 years, 10 months, 13 days1985
Samuel Sevian United States13 years, 10 months, 27 days[18]2000
Richárd Rapport Hungary13 years, 11 months, 6 days[19]1996

Note: Karjakin and Rapport have 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 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[13][14]
2002Humpy Koneru India15 years, 1 month[20][21]
2008Hou Yifan China14 years, 6 months[22]

References

  1. ↑ "Chess prodigies and mini-grandmasters". 10 January 2006. Retrieved 8 August 2017.
  2. ↑ Saidy, Anthony; Lessing, Norman (1974). The World of Chess. William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. p. 13. ISBN 0-394-48777-X.
  3. ↑ Whyld, Kenneth (1986). Guinness Chess, The Records. Guinness Publishing Ltd. p. 259. ISBN 0851124550.
  4. ↑ "Awonder Liang Now World's Youngest Grandmaster". chess.com. 10 August 2017. Retrieved 15 August 2020.
  5. ↑ McClain, Dylan Loeb (17 January 2009). "9-Year-Old Defies the Ratings and Defeats a Grandmaster". The New York Times. Retrieved 15 August 2020.
  6. 1 2 3 "9-year-old Hetul Shah (India) youngest ever to beat a GM". Chess.com. 31 August 2011. Retrieved 15 August 2020.
  7. ↑ Brown, Angie (22 May 2021). "news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife". www.bbc.co.uk. Archived from the original on 22 May 2021. Retrieved 22 May 2021 – via archive.today.
  8. ↑ "Rapid Chess • FREDERICKtheMATE vs GM BogdanLalic".
  9. ↑ "ECF Grand Prix Rapid Event 1 by ECF Online Rapid Grand Prix Series 2021: Standard 10+5 #ILOHq9MS".
  10. ↑ "TanitoluwaAps116 v. Hikaru". 29 August 2022.
  11. ↑ "World Rapid Chess Championship 2023 Results".
  12. ↑ "World Blitz Chess Championship 2023 Results".
  13. 1 2 "Judit Polgar: How I beat Fischer's record". ChessBase. 5 February 2013.
  14. 1 2 "Tibor Tolnai vs Judit Polgar". Chessgames.com. Chessgames Services LLC. Retrieved 7 September 2023.
  15. ↑ "Guinness World Records Young Achievers - Abhimanyu Mishra". Guinness World Records. Retrieved 2023-07-02.
  16. ↑ Wei Yi has become the youngest GM in the world Archived 28 February 2013 at the Wayback Machine
  17. ↑ Rao, Rakesh (20 October 2019). "Raunak Sadhwani becomes India's 65th Grandmaster". The Hindu.Rao, Rakesh (20 October 2019). "Raunak Sadhwani becomes India's 65th Grandmaster". The Hindu.
  18. ↑ "Youngest-ever American Chess Grandmaster crowned in St. Louis". 23 November 2014. Retrieved 8 August 2017.
  19. ↑ "Richard Rapport Becomes Hungary's Youngest Grandmaster - Chessdom". players.chessdom.com. Archived from the original on 28 July 2017. Retrieved 8 August 2017.
  20. ↑ "Humpy emerges winner at Elekes". The Times of India. 29 May 2002. Retrieved 7 September 2023.
  21. ↑ "Humpy beats Judit Polgar by three months". Chess News. 31 May 2002. Retrieved 17 February 2015.
  22. ↑ WWCC - Nalchik 2008 - and now there are just four! Archived 13 September 2008 at the Wayback Machine, FIDE web site, 9 September 2008
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