Eldogmus becomes world’s youngest grandmaster at age 12

Twelve-year-old Turkish chess sensation IM Yagiz Khan Erdogmus is the new world’s youngest grandmaster and the fourth-youngest in history to win the title. He won his third grandmaster title in Germany on Monday, but the title is pending approval by FIDE. Mr. Erdogmus is also trying to break a ratings record that has stood for 35 years.

GM Hans Niemann won the Grenke Chess Open convincingly, but the 12-year-old prodigy stole the show and proved he is one of the most promising players in the world of chess at the moment. .

Erodogmus finished the tournament in 20th place, scoring seven points out of nine rounds. He had six wins, two draws and only one loss to world No. 9 GM Arjun Eligaish.

Rating points increased by 13 points, bringing Eldogmus’ unofficial rating to 2553. He is approaching the legendary rating of 2,555 set by GM Judith Polgar in 1989 as a 12-year-old, the highest ever for a player 13 or younger. The Turkish prodigy could cross the milestone next week as he competes in the Menorca Open, which begins on the Spanish island on Tuesday.

More importantly, he has secured Grandmaster status for the third and final time, meaning he is set to become Turkey’s 16th Grandmaster. In a comment on Chess.com, his father said: “Yaggis has a hobby that he really likes. He just enjoys it and doesn’t really focus on the rest.”

Yagis has a hobby that he likes very much. He’s just having fun and not really focusing on the rest.

We have a new Grandmaster – and he’s only 12 years old! 🙌 pic.twitter.com/ve6D0ztXCO

— ChessKid.com 👑 (@ChessKidcom) April 1, 2024

At 12 years, 9 months and 29 days old, Erdogmus becomes the world’s youngest grandmaster, the fourth-youngest in history, and the sixth to win the title before his 13th birthday. Coincidentally, he faced the youngest GM Abhimanyu Mishra in round 5 in Germany. The match was tied after 25 moves.

Ukrainian GM Ihor Samnenkov was previously the world’s youngest grandmaster at 14 years old, while 13-year-old US star IM Andy Woodward fulfilled all the requirements to win the title in February.

Only three players in the history of chess have won the title at a younger age.

The 10 youngest grandmasters of all time:

A recent study conducted by Chess.com concluded that grandmasters are earning titles at an earlier age than ever before. Peter Leko, former World Championship challenger’s GM, wrote about this trend in “The Pandemic Effect.”

Technology is developing.All online access, and we saw this during the pandemic [chess] The boom made a big contribution. Those who suddenly started playing chess now have a lot of information.

Those who suddenly started playing chess now have a lot of information.

—Peter Leko

The average age of players who won chess’ most prestigious title was 30 years old from 1975 to 1979, but it has fallen to 22.8 years old from 2020 to 2024. The average age of a new GM in 1977 was 32.8 years old. In 2021, more than 40 years later, his average age is 20.9 years old, the lowest ever.

Mr. Erdogmus will likely contribute to a further decline in the average value. His three Grandmaster standards have been secured within the last four months. His first chess was presented at Chesable Sunway Sitges Chess Festival in December and broke the 2500 rating barrier for the first time. This was followed less than two months later by also winning the Jeddah Youth Chess Festival, earning him his second quota along the way.

In Germany, Erdogmus needed only a draw to clinch the title in the final round against FM Marian Cann Nothnagel (2381), but instead he capitalized on a 21-move error to win the match.

As the organizers recorded in this video, the 12-year-old was close to a draw with New World No. 9 Erigaishi.

Eldogmus has been hailed as an extraordinary talent for years, but like many gifted athletes, he showed remarkable improvement when he returned to competitive action after the 2021 coronavirus pandemic. . In just over a year, his ratings skyrocketed from 1955 to 2019. 2456 years. Shortly after, he earned the title of IM, becoming the youngest international master in Turkish history.

In 2022, he won the ChessKid Youth Chess Championship. FM Mike ‘Funmaster’ Klein, Head of Content and Scholastic Growth at ChessKid, commented:

The Goats were the most dominant players in the event’s history when they won in 2022. Even Magnus Carlsen never made it through the SCC with so few losses. I also thought he and his family were very humble people. I really liked how they didn’t feel the need to chase all-time records and allowed the Yachts to earn them in their own time.

Erdogums is backed by some of Turkey’s top players, including general manager Mert Erdogdu and general manager Baris Esen. Another important helper was super GM Shakryar Mamedyarov, who Erdogdu told Chess.com:

“Recently, you can feel the great touches in Mamedyarov’s preparation. I believe that everyone is contributing to his progress in their own way.”

Erdogdu described his talented students as “incredible workers” with very high emotional intelligence. “It will probably help him understand his opponent during the match,” he added.

When asked about his greatest strength, he said:

“He’s the best tactician I’ve ever seen in my life, and I think he’s second to none in that respect. He also has a very good feel for dynamic positions. is there to punish you.”

He also detailed his training program.

“We work almost any time we have free time. During weekdays, he usually goes to school and after he comes back, we start working from 11pm to 12pm. Weekends are more nervous because we both usually have time and work harder. “They’ve been doing a lot of midfield practice together, but lately they’ve been mainly concentrating on the opening.” Of course we don’t forget about the endgame, but he knows what he needs to know in most games. To be honest, it’s very difficult to prepare lessons for that.” Because he can solve the most difficult exercises with relative ease. ”