Gukesh And The Greatest Chess Prodigies Of All Time

GM Gukesh Dommaraju recently became the youngest ever undisputed classical chess world champion, at just 18 years old. He joins a long line of amazing chess prodigies dating back more than a century. You may have seen this famous photo of a young Samuel Reshevsky, who was traveling the world giving simuls at nine years old. Chess history is full of amazing prodigies playing like experienced masters while still in elementary school. 

Where does Gukesh fit within the history of chess prodigies? Is he the most impressive ever? Tai Pruce-Zimmerman has been analyzing chess achievements for years and has examined the most prolific accomplishments of young chess players.

This article tells the story of every player who holds the rating record for even 1/50th of a year in any junior category, starting at eight years old. It's an amazing group of chess talents that tells much of the history of modern chess and may help us predict some of the upcoming world champions. Some of these players may some day join Gukesh in the pantheon of world champions!

8.0 years old: David Ribero

Ribero is the most relatable name on this list. He didn't grow up to become a world champion but peaked after his first tournament. He reached 2050 in his first event as a six-year-old. It was an amazing performance, and it's unsurprising that he couldn't maintain that pace. He dropped his rating in his following events, eventually quitting with an Elo of 1683.

Still, he has a place in chess history as the highest-rated person before age 8 in the history of the game! The highest-rated player when they reached age eight and stuck with chess as an adult is GM Aryan Gholami, who was rated 2036 when he turned eight. His progress continued, eventually reaching a peak rating of 2554. 

8.02-8.96:  Illya Nyzhnyk

Just after his eighth birthday in 2004, Nyzhnyk played his first chess tournament and went down in history as one of the greatest youngsters to ever play the game. He gained an amazing first-ever rating of 2119, which he eventually improved to 2131 while still only eight.

Although some other prodigies went on to surpass Nyzhnyk's pace, he continued to improve and soon became the youngest grandmaster in the world at 14 years and three months old. His rating peaked at 2692 in 2022, making him the 43rd-ranked player in the world.  

8.98-9.18: Faustino Oro

You may have heard of Oro already. He recently became the youngest IM in history as a 10-year-old. Before that, he was already setting records, reaching a rating of 2140 just before age nine and then boosting it to 2182 just a couple of months later. We will see Oro again on this list, but his greatest accomplishments are yet to come.

9.2-9.28: Maxime Vachier-Lagrave

Most of the names on this list aren't famous for their youthful accomplishments, as much as what they achieved later in their careers. Dubbed by GM Viktor Korcnoi as "the Frenchman with three names," MVL went on to become one of the strongest players in the world, reaching a peak rating of 2819, the seventh-highest ever achieved. Vachier-Lagrave has won many tournaments and is notably one of only two players to ever defeat Magnus Carlsen in the Speed Chess Championship.

9.3-9.46: Ethan Pang

Pang is the newest entrant on this list. Just this summer, he broke Oro's record to become the youngest-ever FIDE candidate master (2200 rating). Pang debuted in the record books with a 2212 rating at 9.3 years old. He has since increased it to 2300, becoming the youngest ever FIDE master. If he wants to keep setting rating records, he will need to maintain a furious pace because Oro is just a year older and continuing to improve.

9.48-10.22: Faustino Oro

Oro continued at a record pace, becoming the youngest-ever IM. However, even though he boasts a rating of 2433 and is only 11 years old, he's fallen off of record pace, behind....

10.24-10.52: Javokhir Sindarov

Sindarov was well on his way to eventually reaching the 2700 super-GM level when he reached a rating of 2384 at just ten years old. Sindarov is only 19 years old now, so his best performances are likely still in front of him. He's most likely best known for his strong World Cup performances, knocking GM Alireza Firouzja out of the 2021 edition and defeating MVL in 2023. 

10.54 - 11.72: Nodirbek Abdusattorov

Sindarov has had an impressive career so far, but he hasn't quite been able to keep up with his slightly older Uzbek countryman, Abdusattorov. Nodirbek owns the longest stretch of the record so far, with more than one year in the lead. He held an impressive 2465 Elo before his 11th birthday.

There's a good chance that Oro will break some of Nodirbek's records in the next year, but don't feel too bad for Abdusattorov. He's already won a rapid world championship, led his team to an Olympiad victory, and reached the fourth-highest rating in the world as a teenager! 

11.74-12.44: Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu

Like Abdusattorov, Praggnanandhaa has recently broken into the ranks of the world's best. He had an even score in the last Candidates Tournament and will likely return to that event in the coming years. Before age 12, Pragg reached a record rating of 2471, which he pushed past the GM level to 2500 just after his birthday. He maintained a record pace until he was almost 12.5, but couldn't match possibly the greatest prodigy performance in history.

12.46-12.98: Judit Polgar

Before Judit Polgar became one of the most feared attackers of her generation and the strongest female player ever, she was the greatest prodigy of the Elo era. In 1989, at 12 years old, she became the youngest player ever to reach the top 100 in the world, with a spectacular rating of 2555.

This is by far the oldest record on this list, having lasted for 35 years! At 15, Polgar broke GM Bobby Fischer's record to become the youngest grandmaster to that point in history. Some of her age-based records continue to this day, but the mark for the highest-rated 13-year-old has recently been broken by...

13-14.58: Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus

He might not be the most well-known player on this list, but Erdogmus is working on changing that. Last year, he broke Polgar's 35-year-old record as the highest-rated 13-year-old in history. He's continued at a record pace, recently reaching a rating of 2604 and becoming the youngest 2600 in history.

Meanwhile, he took a break from classical chess to win both the under-13 Championship and the under-16 section of the ChessKid Youth Championship. We'll have to keep an eye on Erdogmus to see how many more of these records he breaks in the coming years.

14.6-14.64: Wei Yi

In 2013, Wei earned the GM title, knocked Super GMs Ian Nepomniachtchi and Alexei Shirov out of the World Cup, and broke 2600. He continued his rapid ascent, becoming the youngest 2700 rated-player in history at 15. So, we will see him on this list again. Here's IM Levy Rozman's coverage of Wei's most amazing game.

14.66: Praggnanandhaa

Pragg is back with another brief record. His 2608 rating was just one point above Wei's at the same age.

14.68 - 14.8: Wei Yi

Wei briefly takes the lead again with a 2618 rating.

14.82: Abhimanyu Mishra

The youngest grandmaster in history, Mishra currently only leads this list for one brief moment, with a rating of 2627. Mishra is only 15 today, so there's a strong chance that he'll make much bigger marks on chess history in the coming years. 

14.84-15.32: Wei Yi

Shortly before turning 15, Wei improved his rating to 2629. He kept making progress in the coming months, reaching 2645, a record for players for the first four months after their 15th birthday. After that, we need to start making room for a very familiar name...

15.34-15.4: Magnus Carlsen

Carlsen had a relatively late start for a chess super-talent. He didn't start setting records until his teenage years, but once something clicked, his level shot up like no one had ever seen. 

He only has the record for about a month as a 15-year-old, but don't worry. We will see him again soon.

15.42-17.08: Wei Yi

This is Wei's last appearance on this list, but it covers an impressive period of more than a year and a half, where he increased his rating from 2649 to 2737. Since then, he has taken some time off from the professional chess circuit and doesn't appear focused on becoming a world champion. Fortunately for chess fans, he's come back to the game and even won the Tata Steel tournament this January in impressive fashion! Check out the tie-breaker against Gukesh, which won him the tournament.

17.1-17.32: Gukesh Dommaraju

After Magnus, Gukesh is the only World Champion on this list. He was spectacular as a 17-year-old, winning the Candidate to set up his recent title match. Along the way, his 2758 rating is the top for a player in the early months of their 17th year. 

17.34-18.34: Magnus Carlsen

Gukesh will have to keep improving quickly to catch up with Carlsen's pace, who retakes the record as a 17 and 18-year-old. It's unsurprising that as we get toward the end of this list, Carlsen, the highest-rated player in history, would have the most months with the age-based rating records as well. It's almost surprising that Carlsen doesn't have all of the records starting at age 17, but that's because another star had a huge run of success in 2021 and 2022. 

18.36-18.44: Gukesh D

This is a recent addition to the list. Will we see Gukesh totally take over the back end of this ist in the coming years? 

18.46-19.08: Alireza Firouzja

He has struggled in two Candidates Tournaments, which makes it easy to forget that Firouzja is one of the greatest young players ever. As an 18-year-old, he broke Carlsen's record to become the youngest 2800 of all time. He impressed so much that Carlsen admitted that Firouzja was the only player who was exciting enough to interest him in playing another world championship match. That match never happened, but they frequently play exciting clashes in the Champions Chess Tour.

Firouzja is still a great player, but no one can keep pace with the GOAT for long.

19.1-21 (and more): Magnus Carlsen

At 19.1 years of age, Carlsen reached a rating of 2826. Only three other players of any age have reached a rating that high, and back in 2010, just Carlsen and GM Garry Kasparov had done it. Carlsen went on to become world champion and reached an all-time highest rating of 2882 at age 23. 

It will be fascinating to see whether the younger players on this list, Pang, Oro, and Erdogmus, will be able to reach those heights as well. Will Gukesh, like Magnus, take the next step from world champion to a candidate for the greatest of all time?

Which player had the most impressive accomplishments as a junior? Let us know in the comments.