Chess prodigy
Chess prodigies are children who can beat experienced adult players and even Masters at chess. Expectations can be high for chess prodigies. While some become World Champions, others show little or no progress in adulthood.
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 years.
List of youngest grandmasters
One measure of chess prodigies is the age at which they gain the Grandmaster title. Below are players who have held the record for youngest grandmaster. The record has been held by Sergey Karjakin of Russia 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.
Year Player Country Age 1950 David Bronstein Soviet Union 26 years 1952 Tigran Petrosian Soviet Union 23 years 1955 Boris Spassky Soviet Union 18 years 1958 Bobby Fischer United States 15 years, 6 months, 1 day 1991 Judit Polgár Hungary 15 years, 4 months, 28 days 1994 Péter Lékó Hungary 14 years, 4 months, 22 days 1997 Étienne Bacrot France 14 years, 2 months, 0 days 1997 Ruslan Ponomariov Ukraine 14 years, 0 months, 17 days 1999 Bu Xiangzhi China 13 years, 10 months, 13 days 2002 Sergey Karjakin Russia 12 years, 7 months, 0 days
This is a list of the players to become Grandmasters before their 15th birthday:
No. Player Country Age 1. Sergey Karjakin Russia 12 years, 7 months, 0 days 2. Parimarjan Negi India 13 years, 4 months, 22 days 3. Magnus Carlsen Norway 13 years, 4 months, 27 days 4. Wei Yi China 13 years, 8 months, 23 days[2] 5. Bu Xiangzhi China 13 years, 10 months, 13 days 6. Samuel Sevian United States 13 years, 10 months, 27 days[3] 7. Richárd Rapport Hungary 13 years, 11 months, 6 days[4] 8. Teimour Radjabov Azerbaijan 14 years, 0 months, 14 days 9. Ruslan Ponomariov Ukraine 14 years, 0 months, 17 days 10. Wesley So Philippines 14 years, 1 month, 28 days[5] 11. Étienne Bacrot France 14 years, 2 months, 0 days 12. Illya Nyzhnyk Ukraine 14 years, 3 months, 2 days[6] 13. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave France 14 years, 4 months[7] 14. Péter Lékó Hungary 14 years, 4 months, 22 days 15. Jorge Cori Peru 14 years, 5 months, 15 days [8] 16. Hou Yifan China 14 years, 6 months, 16 days[9] 17. Jeffery Xiong United States 14 years, 6 months, 25 days[10] 18. Anish Giri Russia 14 years, 7 months, 2 days[11] 19. Yuriy Kuzubov Ukraine 14 years, 7 months, 12 days[12] 20. Bogdan Daniel Deac Romania 14 years, 7 months, 27 days[13] 21. Dariusz Świercz Poland 14 years, 7 months, 29 days 22. Aryan Chopra India 14 years, 9 months, 3 days[14] 23 Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son Vietnam 14 years, 10 months 24 Daniil Dubov Russia 14 years, 11 months, 14 days[15] 25 Ray Robson United States 14 years, 11 months, 16 days[16] 26 Fabiano Caruana Italy 14 years, 11 months, 20 days[17] 27 Yu Yangyi China 14 years, 11 months, 23 days[18]
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):
Year Player Country Age 1978 Nona Gaprindashvili Soviet Union 37 years 1984 Maia Chiburdanidze Soviet Union 23 years 1991 Susan Polgar Hungary 21 years 1991 Judit Polgár Hungary 15 years, 4 months 2002 Humpy Koneru India 15 years 1 month 2008 Hou Yifan China 14 years, 6 months[19]
References
- ↑ Chessbase: "Chess Prodigies and Mini-Grandmasters"
- ↑ Wei Yi has become the youngest GM in the world Archived February 28, 2013, at the Wayback Machine.
- ↑ Youngest-ever American Chess Grandmaster crowned in St. Louis
- ↑ Richard Rapport Becomes Hungary's Youngest Grandmaster
- ↑ 14-year-old Filipino is newest grandmaster Archived January 17, 2008, at the Wayback Machine.
- ↑ ChessBase.com - Chess News - GM title for Illya Nyzhnyk in Groningen
- ↑ French Championship in Chartres
- ↑ Cori achieved his final GM norm in October 2009, but he crossed the 2500 rating mark during a tournament in January 2010
- ↑ 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).
- ↑ Ramirez, Alejandro (1 June 2015). "Jeffery Xiong rocks Chicago". ChessBase. Retrieved 5 September 2015.
- ↑ Anish Giri, 14, makes his final GM norm ChessBase January 31, 2009
- ↑ Yuriy Kuzubov joins the mini-GM club
- ↑ The chess games of Bogdan-Daniel Deac
- ↑ Staff, Scroll. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/sports/chess/Delhis-Aryan-14-secures-Grandmaster-title/articleshow/54342930.cms. Retrieved 2016-09-17. Missing or empty
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(help) - ↑ Satrapa, James (2011-08-07). "Daniil Dubov, grandmaster at fourteen". ChessBase.com. Retrieved 8 August 2011.
- ↑ Ray Robson is the new youngest GM Archived October 16, 2009, at the Wayback Machine.
- ↑ Who was the future GM? Fabiano Caruana, Italy's top grandmaster!
- ↑ ChessBase states he qualified for the GM title at 15 years and 23 days old, but when he earned his final GM norm in a tournament which ended before his 15th birthday he also achieved a rating above 2500
- ↑ WWCC - Nalchik 2008 - and now there are just four!, FIDE web site, September 9, 2008
External links
- Edward Winter, Chess Prodigies (2005, updated in 2006 and 2007)
- Chessbase news about young Grandmasters
- Youngest Chess Player in India Set World Record
- Smallest Chess Player Chess Tournament Set World Record