Achess prodigy is a young child who possesses an aptitude for the game ofchess that far exceeds what might be expected at their age. Theirprodigious talent will often enable them to defeat experienced adult players and even titled chess masters. Some chess prodigies have progressed to become grandmasters or evenWorld Chess Champions.

Early chess prodigies includedPaul Morphy (1837–1884) andJosé Raúl Capablanca (1888–1942), both of whom won matches against strong adult opponents at the age of 12, andSamuel Reshevsky (1911–1992), who was givingsimultaneous exhibitions at the age of six.^[1] Morphy went on to become the world's leading player before the formal title ofWorld Champion existed. Capablanca became the third World Champion, and Reshevsky—while never attaining the title—was amongst the world's elite players for many decades.

Arturo Pomar (1931–2016) was another to be labelled a prodigy by chess writers.^[2][3] He played his first international tournament (Madrid 1943) at the age of 11 and went on to become Spain's firstgrandmaster.

Jutta Hempel (born 1960) at the age of 6 played 12 simultaneous games and won 9.5-2.5.^[4]

There is often widespread attention when a young player defeats a Grandmaster, whether in a standard tournament game or less formal conditions.

The youngest player to defeat a grandmaster under standardtime controls isAshwath Kaushik of Singapore, who in February 2024 defeatedJacek Stopa at the age of 8 years, 6 months, and 11 days.^[5]

The previous record was set byLeonid Ivanovic of Serbia, who in January 2024 defeatedMilko Popchev at the Novogodisnji rating ŠSB in Belgrade, Serbia at the age of 8 years, 11 months, and 7 days.^[6][7]

In January 2025,Aarit Kapil of India became the third youngest player worldwide to defeat a Grandmaster under classical time controls, at the age of 9 years, 2 months, and 18 days old.^[5]

In 1976, a ten-year-oldNigel Short beatViktor Korchnoi as a participant in asimultaneous exhibition, the only game Korchnoi lost in the event.^[8]

In 1999,David Howell defeatedJohn Nunn in ablitz game at the age of eight.^[8]

In 2021, 10-year-old Frederick Waldhausen Gordon, from Scotland, won against GMBogdan Lalic in an online rapid 10+5 game in the ECF Grand Prix Rapid Event 1 held on lichess.org.^[9][10][11]

In 2023, 8-year-oldRoman Shogdzhiev, from Russia, defeated GMJakhongir Vakhidov and GMJohan-Sebastian Christiansen in theWorld Rapid Chess Championship 2023,^[12] and after a couple of days defeated GMKirill Shevchenko, GMAlan Pichot and GMPranav V in theWorld Blitz Chess Championship 2023.^[13]

Since 1950, when theGrandmaster (GM) title was introduced byFIDE, one measure of chess prodigies is the age at which they gain the GM title. Below are players who have held the record for the youngest grandmaster; the age listed is the age at which theyqualified 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. The country listed indicates the federation the player was affiliated with at the time of gaining the title, not their current or later affiliation. The first record holder wasDavid Bronstein, who was the youngest of the 27 inaugural players to be awarded the title by FIDE in 1950 at age 26; the record is currently held byAbhimanyu Mishra, who qualified at age 12.

List of youngest grandmasters since 1950

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[14][15]
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
2021	Abhimanyu Mishra	United States	12 years, 4 months, 25 days[16]

This is a list of the players who fulfilled the requirements to attain the title of Grandmaster before their 14th birthday. Players in italics have beencandidates for the World Chess Championship. Players in bold are or have been theWorld Chess Champion.

Grandmasters younger than 14 years old

Player	Country	Age	Birth year
Abhimanyu Mishra	United States	12 years, 4 months, 25 days	2009
Sergey Karjakin	Ukraine	12 years, 7 months, 0 days	1990
Gukesh Dommaraju	India	12 years, 7 months, 17 days	2006
Yağız Kaan Erdoğmuş	Turkey	12 years, 9 months, 29 days	2011
Javokhir Sindarov	Uzbekistan	12 years, 10 months, 8 days[17]	2005
R Praggnanandhaa	India	12 years, 10 months, 13 days	2005
Nodirbek Abdusattorov	Uzbekistan	13 years, 1 month, 11 days	2004
Parimarjan Negi	India	13 years, 4 months, 22 days	1993
Magnus Carlsen	Norway	13 years, 4 months, 27 days	1990
Ivan Zemlyanskii	Russia	13 years, 8 months, 21 days	2010
Wei Yi	China	13 years, 8 months, 23 days[18]	1999
Andy Woodward	United States	13 years, 8 months, 28 days	2010
Raunak Sadhwani	India	13 years, 9 months, 28 days[19]	2005
Bu Xiangzhi	China	13 years, 10 months, 13 days	1985
Samuel Sevian	United States	13 years, 10 months, 27 days[20]	2000
Richárd Rapport	Hungary	13 years, 11 months, 6 days[21]	1996

Note: Karjakin has changed federations since attaining the grandmaster title.

Below are the holders of the record for the youngest female player to qualify for the grandmaster title (not to be confused with the lesserWoman Grandmaster title). (Note thatJudit Polgár was the youngest player of any gender to qualify for the grandmaster title when she did so.):^[14][15]

Youngest female grandmasters

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[14][15]
2002	Koneru Humpy	India	15 years, 1 month[22][23]
2008	Hou Yifan	China	14 years, 6 months[24]

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