Chess Grandmasters

With the advances in computer technology, access to latest chess games and theories is quick and easy. This allowed thirteen chess prodigies in the last fifteen years to earn grandmaster titles before their fifteenth birthday. Playing chess to earn the chess grandmaster title is a challenging goal. Less than one percent of chess players gain the master and grandmaster titles. Grandmasters (GMs) have a great deal of commitment, determination, and they practice many hours every day. They memorize various openings, middle games and end games. GMs travel to as many as fifty countries during their chess career. The youngest ever females to become grandmasters are Judit Polgar of Hungary and Koneru Humpy of India, who became GMs at 15 years old. There are less than 1,500 GMs in the world. It is interesting to note that thirty percent of the world’s top 100 rated chess players are in the age category of twenty to twenty-five. Garry Kasparov of Russia became the youngest ever World Chess Champion in 1985 at the age of twenty-two.

Chess Prodigies

*January 2008 World’s Rating List

Sergey Karjakin, Ukraine, earned GM title at 12, rated 2732*

Parimarjan Negi, India, earned GM title at 13, rated 2526

Magnus Carlsen, Norway, earned GM title at 13, rated 2733

Xiangzhi Bu, China, earned GM title at 13, rated 2691

Teimour Radjabov, Azerbaijan, earned GM title at 14, rated 2735

Ruslan Ponomariov, Ukraine, earned GM title at 14, rated 2719

Wesley So, Philippines, earned GM title at 14, rated 2526

Etienne Bacrot, France, earned GM title at 14, rated 2700

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, France, earned GM title at 14, rated 2637

Peter Leko, Hungary, earned GM title at 14, rated 2753

Yuriy Kuzubov, Ukraine, earned GM title at 14, rated 2606

Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son, Vietnam, earned GM title at 14, rated 2551

Fabiano Caruana, Italy, earned GM title at 14, rated 2598

Top level grandmaster is sometimes informally called a "super-grandmaster". A super-GM has 2700+ rating.

Top 100 World’s Chess Rated Players, January 2008

Chess grandmasters under 21

Magnus Carlsen, Norway, rated 2733

Sergey Karjakin, Ukraine, rated 2732

Hao Wang, China, rated 2665

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, France, rated 2637

Chess grandmasters, age category 20-25:

Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Azerbaijan, rated 2760

Teimour Radjabov, Azerbaijan, rated 2735

Dmitry Jakovenko, Russia, rated 2720

Ruslan Ponomariov, Ukraine, rated 2719

Ivan Cheparinov, Bulgaria, rated 2713

Evgeny Alekseev, Russia, rated 2711

Alexander Grischuk, Russia, rated 2711

Etienne Bacrot, France, rated 2700

Yue Wang, China, rated 2698

Pavel Eljanov, Ukraine, rated 2692

Xiangzhi Bu, China, rated 2691

Lenier Dominguez Perez, Cuba, rated 2691

Ernesto Inarkiev, Russia, rated 2681

Hua Ni, China, rated 2680

David Navara, Czech Republic, rated 2680

Gabriel Sargissian, Armenia, rated 2676

Andrei Volokitin, Ukraine, rated 2674

Hikaru Nakamura, USA, rated 2670

Vugar Gashimov, Azerbaijan, rated 2665

Artyom Timofeev, Russia, rated 2664

Pentala Harikrishna, India, rated 2664

Michael Roiz, Israel, rated 2659

Alexander Areshchenko, Ukraine, rated 2645

Baadur Jobava, Georgia, rated 2643

Borki Predojevic, Bosnia, rated 2641

Arkadij Naiditsch, Germany, rated 2638

Zahar Efimenko, Ukraine, rated 2638

Zviad Izoria, Georgia, rated 2637

Levan Pantsulaia, Georgia, rated 2629

Alexander Riazantsev, Russia, rated 2628

Hikaru Nakamura won recently a number of the open tournaments, such as the 2008 GibTelecom Chess Festival, the 2007 North American Open Chess Championship, and the 2007 Corsica Masters Championship among others. Xiangzhi Bu won the 2007 Blindfold Chess World Cup in Bilbao, and the 2007 Canadian Open Chess Championship. His tournament rating performance at the 2008 GibTelecom at one point exceeded 3000.

Magnus Carlsen blog: blog.magnuschess.com

Etienne Bacrot website: www.chess22.fr

Hikaru Nakamura website: www.hikarunakamura.com

Peter Leko website: www.lekochess.com

Fabiano Caruana website: www.fabianocaruana.it

Judit Polgar Fan website: juditpolgar.maribelajar.com

Judit is ranked 22nd in the world (2707). She is the strongest woman chess player ever.

Top 50 World’s Rated Women List

Women chess players under 21

WGM Yifan Hou, China, rated 2527

GM Kateryna Lahno, Ukraine, rated 2475

WGM Anna Muzychuk, Slovenia, rated 2460

IM Dronavalli Harika, India, rated 2455

WGM Yang Shen, China, rated 2429

Click Here to See Photos of Young Chess Stars

34 % of the top 50 world’s rated women are in the age group of 20 to 25:

GM Humpy Koneru, India, rated 2612

GM Alexandra Kosteniuk, Russia, rated 2523

WGM Xue Zhao, China, rated 2517

IM Marie Sebag, France, rated 2510

WGM Lufei Ruan, China, rated 2495

IM Tatiana Kosintseva, Russia, rated 2495

IM Anna Ushenina, Ukraine, rated 2484

WGM Natalija Pogonina, Russia, rated 2476

IM Viktorija Cmilyte, Lithuania, rated 2475

IM Irina Krush, USA, rated 2473

IM Nadezhda Kosintseva, Russia, rated 2472

IM Lela Javakhishvili, Georgia, rated 2470

IM Ekaterina Korbut, Russia, rated 2457

WIM Qian Huang, China, rated 2430

IM Elisabeth Paehtz, Germany, rated 2420

IM Nana Dzagnidze, Georgia, rated 2429

WGM Sachdev Tania, India, rated 2417

Alexandra Kosteniuk website: www.kosteniuk.com

Elisabeth Paehtz website: www.elisabeth-paehtz.de

References

www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=2858

January 2008: www.fide.com/ratings/toplist.phtml