Chess prodigy

Early chess prodigies included 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 become the world's leading player before the formal title of World 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 first grandmaster.

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

13-year-old Magnus Carlsen formally playing against 35-year-old
Ivan Sokolov, 2004

Since 1950, when the Grandmaster (GM) title was introduced by FIDE, 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 record is currently held by Abhimanyu Mishra. 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. The country listed indicates the federation the player was affiliated with at the time of gaining the title, not their current or later affiliation.

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[11][12]
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	Russia	12 years, 7 months, 0 days
2021	Abhimanyu Mishra	United States	12 years, 4 months, 25 days[13]

This is a list of the players who fulfilled the requirements to attain the title of Grandmaster before their 14th birthday.

Grandmasters younger than 14 years old

Player	Country	Age	Birth year
Abhimanyu Mishra	United States	12 years, 4 months, 25 days	2009
Sergey Karjakin	Russia	12 years, 7 months, 0 days	1990
Gukesh Dommaraju	India	12 years, 7 months, 17 days	2006
Javokhir Sindarov	Uzbekistan	12 years, 10 months, 5 days	2005
Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu	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
Wei Yi	China	13 years, 8 months, 23 days[14]	1999
Raunak Sadhwani	India	13 years, 9 months, 28 days[15]	2005
Bu Xiangzhi	China	13 years, 10 months, 13 days	1985
Samuel Sevian	United States	13 years, 10 months, 27 days[16]	2000
Richárd Rapport	Hungary	13 years, 11 months, 6 days[17]	1996

Note: Karjakin and Rapport have changed federations since attaining the grandmaster title.

List of youngest female grandmasters

Below are the holders of the record for the youngest female player to qualify for the grandmaster title (not to be confused with the lesser Woman Grandmaster title):

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[11][12]
2002	Humpy Koneru	India	15 years, 1 month[18][19]
2008	Hou Yifan	China	14 years, 6 months[20]

• Chessbase news about young Grandmasters
• Youngest Chess Player in India Set World Record
• Smallest Chess Player Chess Tournament Set World Record