Chess prodigy

Chess prodigy
Eleven-year-old Sammy Reshevsky, New York 1922

Chess prodigies are children who play chess so well that they are able to beat Masters and even Grandmasters, often at a very young age. Chess is one of the few sports where children can compete with adults on equal ground; it is thus one of the few skills in which true child prodigies exist. Expectations can be high for chess prodigies; while some become World Champions, others fail to make progress in adulthood.

Contents

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 World Champion, and Reshevsky—while never attaining the title—was in 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 International Grandmaster title. This title has only existed since 1950, and also that the title has become less difficult to obtain in recent years (see International Grandmaster Title inflation). Nevertheless, there have been more strong prodigies in recent years.

Record holders

Below are players who have held the record for youngest grandmaster. The age listed is the age on 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. 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 fifteenth 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. Bu Xiangzhi  China 13 years, 10 months, 13 days
5. Richárd Rapport  Hungary 13 years, 11 months, 6 days[2]
6. Teimour Radjabov  Azerbaijan 14 years, 0 months, 14 days
7. Ruslan Ponomariov  Ukraine 14 years, 0 months, 17 days
8. Wesley So  Philippines 14 years, 1 month, 28 days[3]
9. Étienne Bacrot  France 14 years, 2 months, 0 days
10. Jorge Cori  Peru 14 years, 2 months[4]
11. Illya Nyzhnyk  Ukraine 14 years, 3 months, 2 days[5]
12. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave  France 14 years, 4 months[6]
13. Péter Lékó  Hungary 14 years, 4 months, 22 days
14. Hou Yifan  China 14 years, 6 months, 16 days[7]
15. Anish Giri  Russia 14 years, 7 months, 2 days[8]
16. Yuriy Kuzubov  Ukraine 14 years, 7 months, 12 days[9]
17. Dariusz Swiercz  Poland 14 years, 7 months, 29 days
18. Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son  Vietnam 14 years, 10 months
19. Daniil Dubov  Russia 14 years, 11 months, 14 days[10]
20. Ray Robson  United States 14 years, 11 months, 16 days[11]
21. Fabiano Caruana  Italy 14 years, 11 months, 20 days[12]

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[13]

References

  1. ^ Chessbase: "Chess Prodigies and Mini-Grandmasters"
  2. ^ Richard Rapport Becomes Hungary's Youngest Grandmaster
  3. ^ 14-year-old Filipino is newest grandmaster
  4. ^ http://players.chessdom.com/jorge-cori
  5. ^ http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=6916
  6. ^ French Championship in Chartres
  7. ^ 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).
  8. ^ Anish Giri, 14, makes his final GM norm
  9. ^ [http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=1892 Yuriy Kuzubov joins the mini-GM club ]
  10. ^ Satrapa, James (2011-08-07). "Daniil Dubov, grandmaster at fourteen". ChessBase.com. http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=7369. Retrieved 8 August 2011. 
  11. ^ Ray Robson is the new youngest GM
  12. ^ [http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=4187 Who was the future GM? Fabiano Caruana, Italy's top grandmaster! ]
  13. ^ WWCC - Nalchik 2008 - and now there are just four!, FIDE web site, September 9, 2008

External links


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать курсовую

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Chess — This article is about the Western board game. For other chess games or other uses, see Chess (disambiguation). Chess From left to right: a whit …   Wikipedia

  • Chess in China — This article is about international chess (国际象棋; guójì xiàngqí) in China. For Chinese chess , see Xiangqi. China s 2008 Olympiad Team: left to right, Wang Yue, Bu Xiangzhi, Ni Hua, Wang Hao China is a major chess power, with achieve …   Wikipedia

  • chess — chess1 /ches/, n. a game played by two persons, each with 16 pieces, on a chessboard. [1150 1200; ME < OF esches, pl. of eschec CHECK1] chess2 /ches/, n., pl. chess, chesses. one of the planks forming the roadway of a floating bridge. [1425 75;… …   Universalium

  • Chess handicap — a b c d e f g h …   Wikipedia

  • Chess in the arts and literature — The Chess Players by Honoré Daumier (1863) Chess became a source of inspiration in the arts in literature soon after the spread of the game to the Arab World and Europe in the Middle Ages. The earliest works of art centered around the game are… …   Wikipedia

  • CHESS — The Jewish contribution to chess on an appreciable scale dates from the middle of the 19th century. There is no basis for the claim that Jews invented chess, or that King Solomon played the game, as is related in the Midrash (Ginzberg, Legends 4 …   Encyclopedia of Judaism

  • prodigy — /prod i jee/, n., pl. prodigies. 1. a person, esp. a child or young person, having extraordinary talent or ability: a musical prodigy. 2. a marvelous example (usually fol. by of). 3. something wonderful or marvelous; a wonder. 4. something… …   Universalium

  • History of chess — For the book by H. J. R. Murray, see A History of Chess. Photographs of real size resin reproductions of the 12th century Lewis chessmen. The top row shows king, queen, and bishop. The bottom row shows knight, rook, and pawn. The history of chess …   Wikipedia

  • Child prodigy — Wunderkind redirects here. For the Alanis Morissette song, see Wunderkind (song). Israeli conductor and pianist Daniel Barenboim, age 11, with Conductor Moshe Lustig and the Gadna Symphonic orchestra 1953 A child prodigy is someone who, at an… …   Wikipedia

  • Outline of chess — A game of chess, in the starting position. See also: Glossary of chess and Index of chess articles The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to chess: Chess – two player board game played on a chessboard, a square …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
… Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”