Yagiz Erdogmus is not yet a name in the same league as the quartet of Indian and Uzbek teenagers who have stormed into chess’s world top 10 during 2024, but the 13-year-old Turk is still among the most promising international talents, increasingly gaining plaudits for his dynamic classical style. He is also on a career path of early records which follows in the footsteps of Magnus Carlsen, Alireza Firouzja, Fabiano Caruana and others.
Erdogmus is already the youngest current grandmaster and the fourth youngest GM in history. He reached the verge of another significant milestone last week, when a strong performance in the Turkish League in Ankara advanced his Fide world rating to 2599, just below the 2600 level which traditionally marks a high class GM and which is roughly equivalent to a place in the world top 200 players.
The current record for youngest 2600 was set at 14 years two months in 2015 by John M Burke of the US, an unknown name for many chess fans. Burke got there by exploiting a glitch in the Fide regulations, jumped from under 2300 to 2603 between lists, then dropped back below 2600 for the next eight years.
Hence, many consider that the real previous record holder is China’s Wei Yi, who reached 2600 at 14 years four months, went on to become the youngest ever 2700 at 15, and is now, after an academic career break of several years, firmly established in the world top 10.
The formality of the 2600 age record will be there for Erdogmus to take when he plays on third board for Turkey in next month’s 193-nation Olympiad in Budapest, where he could be a contender for an individual board performance gold medal. Erdogmus has a relaxed approach. His father said: “Yagiz has a hobby that he really likes. He is just enjoying it and not focusing on the records that much.”
The file of Erdogmus’s latest 50 games shows that he is sharp and tactically devastating against lower rated opponents, draws with many higher rated rivals, and loses only to those in or near the elite. Watch out for further Erdogmus achievements in the next few years.
Before Budapest, Erdogmus is playing for the Chessy team, third seeds in the current World Rapid and Blitz Team championship, which starts on Friday in Astana, Kazakhstan, and continues until 6 August.
Carlsen, the world No 1, and Ding Liren, the reigning world champion, will both be there and will very likely meet across the board.
Carlsen heads WR Chess, which won the event in 2023. Its team includes the world No 1 woman, Hou Yifan, the two-time title challenger Ian Nepomniachtchi, and rising stars from India, Uzbekistan and Germany. The rules stipulate that one team member must be a non-professional player who has never been rated above 2000, and that category includes Wadim Rosenstein, the sponsor of WR Chess. Ding leads an all-Chinese team which also contains Wei Yi, Yu Yangyi, and the world woman champion, Ju Wenjun.
After seven of the nine rounds of the 2024 British Championship at Hull, the nine front runners are covered by just half a point, and a speed tie-break on Sunday afternoon to decide the title looks increasingly likely.
Leaders with two rounds left: top seeded GM David Howell, GM Gawain Jones, IM Ameet Ghasi, IM Matthew Wadsworth, and IM Svyatoslav Bazakutska 5.5/7, defending champion GM Michael Adams, GM Luke McShane, GM Stuart Conquest and IM Shreyas Royal 5/7. A further 13 players are on 4.5/7. Bazakutska is a 16-year-old Ukrainian resident in Britain.
The leaderboard could have been very different had 15-year-old Royal converted his large advantage against Jones in round five instead of agreeing a draw. As it was, Wadsworth defeated Royal in the key round six matchup.
All the British Championship games can be followed live on lichess (2.30pm start Saturday, 10am Sunday with move-by-move Stockfish computer commentary.
Adams has conceded four draws, but is lurking just behind the leaders and will surely make a bid for his ninth British title, one short of the late Jonathan Penrose’s record, in this weekend’s final two rounds.
Bodhana Sivanandan, nine, has scored 3/7, including hard-fought draws with the grandmasters Nigel Davies and Paul Motwani. Against Motwani in Friday’s sixth round, she missed a win of a piece and the game at move 41 which would have made her the youngest female ever to defeat a GM, a record currently held by Carissa Yip., the reigning US woman champion, who beat a GM when aged 10.
The world’s top men and women grandmasters will be coming to London in October for the franchise-based Tech Mahindra Global Chess League, now in its second year and already established as one of the major international competitions. Friends House, Euston, will host the event from 3-12 October.
Six icons to lead the teams were announced earlier, led by the world top two, Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura. All teams of six will also include two male elite grandmasters and two women.
The complete roster of elite GMs includes seven of the current world top 12: Carlsen, Nakamura, Arjun Erigaisi, Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu and the former world champion Vishy Anand (all India), Yi (China) and Nodirbek Abdusattorov (Uzbekistan).
The 12 women are led by the global top pair, Hou and Ju. Other elite names include India’s rising star Vaishali Rameshbabu, the world title challenger Tan Zhongyi of China, and the “chess queen” Alexandra Kosteniuk of Switzerland.
It is an impressive array of talents which should attract many interested spectators. Disappointingly, though, for a London event, no English player has yet been listed among the participants. Six junior names have yet to be announced, and hopefully these will include Royal.
3931: 1….Rxd5! 2 Qxd5 Qf6+ 3 Kg1 Qxf1+! 4 Kxf1 Nxe3+ and Nxd5 put Black a knight ahead with a won endgame.
