Chess prodigy
![](../I/m/ReshevskyChild.jpg)
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 is held by Sergey Karjakin of Russia at present. 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 Ukraine
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 Ukraine
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. Dariusz Świercz Poland
14 years, 7 months, 29 days 21. Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son Vietnam
14 years, 10 months 22. Daniil Dubov Russia
14 years, 11 months, 14 days[13] 23. Ray Robson United States
14 years, 11 months, 16 days[14] 24. Fabiano Caruana Italy
14 years, 11 months, 20 days[15] 25. Yu Yangyi China
14 years, 11 months, 23 days[16]
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[17]
References
- ↑ Chessbase: "Chess Prodigies and Mini-Grandmasters"
- ↑ Wei Yi has become the youngest GM in the world
- ↑ Youngest-ever American Chess Grandmaster crowned in St. Louis
- ↑ Richard Rapport Becomes Hungary's Youngest Grandmaster
- ↑ 14-year-old Filipino is newest grandmaster
- ↑ 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
- ↑ Satrapa, James (2011-08-07). "Daniil Dubov, grandmaster at fourteen". ChessBase.com. Retrieved 8 August 2011.
- ↑ Ray Robson is the new youngest GM
- ↑ 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
|