See The Future: Watch The ChessKid Youth Championships, Starting June 29
A major new blitz tournament showcasing the record-breaking next generation of young chess talents in two age categories will launch this month.
The ChessKid Youth Championship kicks off on June 29 with a $15,000 prize fund and promises to be a vision of the future for chess fans.
The event is Chess.com’s premier event for young players and offers 24 of the world’s most prodigiously-talented youngsters a new stepping stone into the ranks of the professional game.
The line-up is exciting. Already confirmed for the under-16 category are Turkish chess sensation IM Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus, the newly-qualified youngest grandmaster in the world who is awaiting confirmation of his title. Erdogmus will also compete in the under-13 category.
GM Abhimanyu Mishra, the now 15-year-old New Jersey prodigy who in 2021 broke the record to become the youngest grandmaster in history at the age of 12 years, four months, and 25 days.
He will be joined by two other top American talents: teenage IM Alice Lee, already a winner of a major tournament after she took the Women's American Cup this year, and IM Andy Woodward, the 14-year-old from Texas who is also awaiting confirmation of his grandmaster title. Lee broke the record last year for the youngest American-born player to become an international master.
From England, there are several exciting talents who have honed their skills on ChessKid: led by 15-year-old IM Shreyas Royal. The south Londoner is on the brink of breaking GM David Howell’s record for the youngest British grandmaster. He needs one more norm and 17 rating points.
In the under-13 category, England has another competitor well under the age limit: 10-year-old CM Supratit Banerjee. More players will be confirmed soon.
In previous years, Chess.com has run the Junior Speed Chess Championship won in 2023 by the Indian GM Gukesh Dommaraju, then aged 17. The now 18-year-old’s rise since then has been meteoric.
Gukesh won the FIDE Candidates tournament in April to become GM Ding Liren’s official world title challenger. He has also shot up the world rankings and currently occupies a career-high number four.
ChessKid has also previously run the ChessKid Youth Speed Chess Championship, won last year by then CM Mendes Aaron Reeve, from Canada. He is now 12 and has earned the title of FIDE Master.
Will anyone emerge from ChessKid Youth Championships and attempt to follow in the footsteps of Gukesh?
Every name in the line-up may not be immediately familiar yet, but it is a glimpse into the future of chess: these are the kids slated to be the GM Magnus Carlsens and GM Hikaru Nakamuras of tomorrow.
The 3+1 blitz tournament starts on June 29 and finishes with a grand final on June 30. There are two age categories: under 13 and under 16.
Twelve players in each category will be split into two round-robin groups before the top two in each group progress to a knockout semi finals stage and then the final two face each other for the title.
The tournament will begin with the Under-13 Group 1 round-robin on June 29 at 9 a.m. ET/15:00 CEST. You can find out more about the event here.
