It was only a matter of time, but now it's official: GM Yagiz Khan Erdogums has been recognized, officially making him the youngest Grandmaster in the world. The titles of several other up-and-coming players have also been confirmed.
It's been almost five months since the Turkish prodigy completed the final quota in Germany to become the world's youngest grandmaster at 12 years, 9 months and 29 days. Only three players in chess history have won the title at a younger age: Abhimanyu Mishra, Sergey Karjakin and Gukes Domarac.
The International Chess Federation (FIDE) confirmed on Tuesday that the title was approved by the FIDE Executive Board at its meetings on 21 and 29 July, making him the youngest player currently holding the title.
Erodgmus' GM title now appears on his profile page. Image: FIDE.
The phenom from Bursa, northwest Turkey, who turned 13 in June, will take over from 15-year-old Ukrainian GM Igor Samnenkov, who secured the title in January. Erdogums has made impressive progress over the last year, establishing himself as one of the world's best phenoms and breaking the historic ratings record set by GM Judit Polgar in 1989.
He is currently competing in the 30th Abu Dhabi Chess Festival, where he briefly surpassed the 2600 barrier but fell back below it after drawing in round 4 and losing in round 5. Despite this setback, if he performs well he will set a new historical record as the youngest chess player ever to have a published rating of 2600.
In addition to Erdmus, nine other players have been recognized for the grandmaster title, most notably Russia's Ivan Zemlyansky, who became the world's second-youngest grandmaster a week before his 14th birthday, and 14-year-old Andy Woodward of the United States, who won the title in February.
The other is Tong Xiao, born in 2008 in China. He has been gaining attention as one of the few unknown players to reach 3000 in Chess.com Blitz. He has also just earned the title of GM, which means he can finally play on Titled Tuesday.
There are currently six grandmasters in the world who are under the age of 16.
The 5 youngest GMs in the world
Name Title FRB Rating B Year Yagiz Khan Erdgüms GM 2599 2011 Ivan Zemlyansky GM 2543 2010 Andy Woodward GM 2545 2010 Ihor Samnenkov GM 2517 2009 Edith Grell GM 2602 2008 Tong Xiao GM 2506 2008
Chess.com previously covered the rapid growth of IM Lu Miaoyi, who earned 200 points and three quotas in a matter of months. The 14-year-old Chinese player officially won the title this month, becoming the fourth-youngest woman ever to win the title, behind Polgar, GM Hou Yifan and GM Katerina Ragno.
The FIDE Council will next meet during the 45th Chess Olympiad in Budapest, so many big-name players will not have to wait long for their titles to be confirmed. One of them is 14-year-old IM Sina Movahed from Iran, who showed off his impressive blitz skills on Chess.com. Ten-year-old “Chess Messi” Faustino Oro will also receive a replacement FM title, making him the youngest player to win the International Master title.
15-year-old IM Shreyas Royal was also recognised for the GM title just a month after winning the final quota at the UK Championships, becoming the youngest ever British Grandmaster.
