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The youngest Grandmasters in chess history

Passion, Ambition, Dedication, Talent and Hard work.

These are not only adjectives listed in a row, these are serious requirements of achieving the highest title in chess. Once the player achieved the title, it remains all his life.

The highest award in chess is the title of Grandmaster, awarded to chess players who pass 2500 Elo rating by FIDE. The latest lists (2017) of chess players in the world indicates that there  are 1594 grandmasters:1559 (male), 35 (female.)

For achieving the highest title, one needs great efforts, time, and years of practice but there are certain players in the world who attain that title while being young, sometimes teenager. By the way, there is a special record for those who are interested in statistic and who is the record holder of the youngest chess grandmaster in the world.

Sergey Karjakin - The youngest chess grandmaster in the world.

When Soviet players achieved the title of Grandmaster at the age of 20 and more, Russian chess player Sergey Karjakin(formerly representing Ukraine), broke the rules and attained it at the age 12 (7 months), thus becoming the youngest chess grandmaster in the chess history, and chess player whose name is listed in the Guinness Book of records. Sergey Karjakin or Russia's "Minister of Defense"  known for his impressive defensive skills, is now the seventh player among the top 100 players.

 

 

​​​​​The Second youngest grandmaster in history is an Uzbek chess grandmaster, Nodirbek Abdusattorov, who earned his title at the age of 13 (1 month). This is not all, in 2015, he became a new record holder, being the youngest player to enter the top 100 juniors at the age of 11. In fact, Nodirbek beat two GMs,  S.P. Sethuraman, and  Evgeny Levin, in a tournament when was only nine old years.

Nodirbek Abdusattorov - The Second youngest grandmaster in history

 

The third youngest chess grandmaster in this list is an Indian chess grandmaster Parimarjan Negi. In 2006, Negin became the youngest chess Grandmaster in India, breaking the record of Pentala Harikrishna. 

Parimarjan Negi - The third youngest chess grandmaster


Here is the overall list of youngest chess grandmasters in the world.

No. Player Country Age Birth year  
1. Sergey Karjakin Ukraine 12 years, 7 months, 0 days 1990
2. Nodirbek Abdusattorov Uzbekistan 13 years, 1 month, 11 days 2004
3. Parimarjan Negi India 13 years, 4 months, 22 days 1993
4. Magnus Carlsen Norway 13 years, 4 months, 27 days 1990
5. Wei Yi China 13 years, 8 months, 23 days 1999
6. Bu Xiangzhi China 13 years, 10 months, 13 days 1985
7. Samuel Sevian United States 13 years, 10 months, 27 days 2000
8. Richárd Rapport Hungary 13 years, 11 months, 6 days 1996
9. Teimour Radjabov Azerbaijan 14 years, 0 months, 14 days 1987
10. Ruslan Ponomariov Ukraine 14 years, 0 months, 17 days 1983
11. Awonder Liang United States 14 years, 1 month, 20 days 2003
12. Wesley So Philippines 14 years, 1 month, 28 days 1993
13. Étienne Bacrot France 14 years, 2 months, 0 days 1983
14. Illya Nyzhnyk Ukraine 14 years, 3 months, 2 days 1996
15. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave France 14 years, 4 months, 6 days 1990
16. Péter Lékó Hungary 14 years, 4 months, 22 days 1979
17. Jorge Cori Peru 14 years, 5 months, 15 days 1995
18. Hou Yifan China 14 years, 6 months, 16 days 1994
19. Jeffery Xiong United States 14 years, 6 months, 25 days 2000
20. Anish Giri Russia 14 years, 7 months, 2 days 1994
21. Yuriy Kuzubov Ukraine 14 years, 7 months, 12 days 1990
22. Bogdan-Daniel Deac Romania 14 years, 7 months, 27 days 2001
23. Dariusz Świercz Poland 14 years, 7 months, 29 days 1994
24. Alireza Firouzja Iran 14 years, 8 months, 2 days 2003
25. Aryan Chopra India 14 years, 9 months, 3 days 2001
26. Nguyễn Ngọc Trường Sơn Vietnam 14 years, 9 months, 22 days 1990
27. Kirill Shevchenko Ukraine 14 years, 9 months, 23 days 2002
28. Daniil Dubov Russia 14 years, 11 months, 14 days 1996
29. Ray Robson United States 14 years, 11 months, 16 days 1994
30. Fabiano Caruana Italy 14 years, 11 months, 20 days 1992
31. Yu Yangyi China 14 years, 11 months, 23 days 1994

Source from Wikipedia

Read about The strongest chess countries. Which are the best nations in chess?

On the other hand, nowadays young grandmaster is not an exceptional phenomenon, who knows, maybe years later the record age will be lower than 13. Here is the list of youngest female grandmasters. This one is for those who believe that chess is not for women. 

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

 

Read Why men rank higher than women at chess? Is it possible a female world chess champion?

Hou Yifan, Women’s World Chess Champion of 2016- 2017, broke all the stereotypes and became the youngest female grandmaster in the world, also the youngest player ever to win the Women’s World Chess Championship. But that’s not all, she is also the third woman ever to enter among the world’s top 100 players, after Judit Polgar and Maia Chiburdanidze. 

Hou Yifan - The yougest female Grandmaster

On the whole, the list can be changed, the new heroes can come and can break the record. So, chess world waits for the new records and the new prodigies.



Published on : 16 May 2018

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