Chess Prodigies and Early Grandmasters

[Wayne Komer]

Chess Prodigies and Early Grandmasters

January 24, 2016

I have a book by Evgeniy Gik entitled Šachmatnye vunderkindy (2006). It has games of the great chess prodigies.

Those listed are:

1. Capablanca, Jose Raul - Cuba
2. Reshevsky, Samuel - USA
3. Spassky, Boris - Russia
4. Fischer, Robert - USA
5. Meking, Enrique - Brazil
6. Kasparov, Garry - Russia
7. Short, Nigel - England
8. Kamsky, Gata - USA
9. Polgar, Judit - Hungary
10. Leko, Peter - Hungary
11. Bacrot, Etienne - France
12. Ponomariov, Ruslan - Ukraine
13. Bu Xiangzhi - China
14. Karjakin, Sergey – Ukraine

Usually, a chess prodigy is considered a child who can beat experienced adult players and even Masters at chess. There are many of these in history, who never went on to achieve anything in the game.

Another measure of chess prodigies is the age when they achieved the grandmaster title (not when they were officially awarded it) and by general agreement, that age is 15 years or younger.

This gives us an up-to-date list:

1. Karjakin, Sergey – Ukraine
2. Negi, Parimarjan – India
3. Carlsen, Magnus – Norway
4. Wei Yi – China
5. Bu Xiangzhi – China
6. Sevian, Samuel – USA
7. Rapport, Richard – Hungary
8. Radjabov, Teimour – Azerbaijan
9. Ponomariov, Ruslan - Ukraine
10. So, Wesley – Philippines
11. Bacrot, Etienne – France
12. Nyzhnyk, Illya – Ukraine
13. Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime – France
14. Leko, Peter – Hungary
15. Cori, Jorge – Peru
16. Hou Yifan – China
17. Xiong, Jeffery – USA
18. Giri, Anish – Russia
19. Kuzubov, Yuriy – Ukraine
20. Swiercz, Dariusz – Poland
21. Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son – Vietnam
22. Dubov, Daniil – Russia
23. Robson, Ray – USA
24. Caruana, Fabiano – Italy
25. Yu Yangyi - China

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chess_prodigy

This list should be up-to-date but I welcome any corrections or additions.

[Peter McKillop]

Re: Chess Prodigies and Early Grandmasters

Abe Yanofsky and Arturo Pomar were considered prodigies, I believe. Looking at your second list makes me wonder if the definition of chess prodigy needs some adjustment in the internet age.

P.S. For example, with no access to modern databases/engines and probably very little access to good chess books/coaching, it seems to me that prodigies like Capablanca, Reshevsky, and Yanofsky vastly outperformed your list of modern day 'prodigies'. Pomar? He had Alekhine for a coach.

[Wayne Komer]

Re: Chess Prodigies and Early Grandmasters

Chess Prodigies and Early Grandmasters

January 24, 2016

You are quite right, Peter. Having the mental ability to play high-level chess is just one of the requisites. There must be opportunities to play against strong opposition, training and, these days, funding.

My attempt at a list of present-day prodigies was to see how many there were. It seems like every day we are hearing of a strong twelve-year old tearing up the field.

Edward Winter has an article on children in the past, who were recognized as prodigies, but most went nowhere.

http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/extra/prodigies.html

One of them was Leonard Vaux, of Brockville, Ontario, who was 16 in 1889.

[Konstantin Vlasenko]

Re: Chess Prodigies and Early Grandmasters

Karjakin, Sergey - Russia (not Ukraine)

[Wayne Komer]

Re: Chess Prodigies and Early Grandmasters

Chess Prodigies and Early Grandmasters

January 24, 2016

I used the country designations in Wikipedia. I take it that that is where the prodigy was first recognized and nurtured. For example Anish Giri was born in St. Petersburg and his first youth club was there but now he is considered a Dutch grandmaster.

But I see inconsistencies in the Wiki article and there may be others as well.

For example, Fabiano Caruana was born in Miami and until the age of twelve, he lived and played in the United States and yet his nationality is given as Italian.

[Miroslav Stefanovic]

Re: Chess Prodigies and Early Grandmasters

Caruana had dual citizenship from birth, others have moved and changed.