Of all the records for ‘youngest’, it has to be considered the hardest and most impressive to achieve. The reason is that Elo measures relative performance, so the 2600 of today cannot be compared to a 2600 rating in 1980 for example. However, the Top 100 is a reference that cares nothing for pure numerical comparisons. It says that whatever the numbers of that day may be, you are among the top 100 players in the world at that given time.
It is why, for example, Judit Polgar’s record of precocity is unlikely to ever be beaten. When she gained 190 Elo from one list to the next in January 1989 and appeared at 2555 Elo and world no.57 at the age of 12 (no, that isn’t a typo), it was of no consequence that she was not even an IM. The only thing that mattered was that you had a diminutive pre-teen girl who had bullied her way into the overall Top 100. People all talked about when the actual GM title would fall, but frankly, who cares? Her ranking in the Top 100 spoke far louder than a couple of letters appended to her name.
The curious thing is not so much that she did this so precociously, but that irrespective of the sex, only one other player had ever managed to break into the Top 100 before the age of 15, Teimour Radjabov, and just barely at that. The great Azeri prodigy was 14 years and 10 months when he became world no.94 in January 2002. At the age of 15, the number of players breaking into the Top 100 starts to really get crowded with notables such as Magnus Carlsen, Gukesh, Bobby Fischer (safe to say), and many other brilliant players. Still, think of just how rare that is. For 23 more years, since 2002, no one managed the feat of doing it before their 15th birthday. Until now that is.
Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus is not a new name among the prodigies, obviously not, and aside from his obvious talent, one thing that also stands out is his nationality: Turkey. Much like Carlsen from Norway, it seems no country has any special ownership of extreme talent. The years when a single country like Russia seemed to churn them out like hamburger patties on a conveyor belt are long gone. Born in June 2011, Erdogmus quietly cracked the Top 100 in the August list of 2025, just a couple of months past his 14th birthday, but to show this was not over, he has now climbed to 2657 in the live list:
This is thanks to his participation in the FIDE Grand Swiss, where he has attracted the attention of more than a few players, including no less than Magnus Carlsen himself, who commented in his YouTube channel Take Take Take, “Erdogmus is really, really good, at almost unprecedented levels at that age.”
FM Claus Dieter Meyer has put under the microscope a comprehensive fund of topical and timeless games / fragments. On video Hamburg GM Dr. Karsten Müller has outlined corner points of Meyer’s work and created 14 tests plus 10 interactive test sets.
His moment of fireworks took place in round four when he unleashed a spectacular combination allowing two white queens, while sacrificing his own to deliver a mate with the pawn!
After the fabulous 37…Qxf2+!! 38. Rxf2 Re1+ 39. Kh2 (if 39.Rf1 then Rg2+ 40.Kh1 Rxf1 mate) Rxf2+ 40.Kxh3 Rh1+ 41.Kg4
and here, drum roll, 41…f5+ 42.Kh5
42. g6 mate!! It is an amazing final position in which White has two queens and a rook to Black’s two rooks, but his king is mated by a pawn!
The tournament did not end there of course, and Hans Niemann did avenge the old-timers a bit with a thorough drubbing of his own. Old-timer? Yes, when you are just 14, then even a 22-year-old Hans Niemann is an old-timer.
Credit: Michal Walusza/FIDE
But unfazed and undeterred, the 14 year-old then beat Levon Aronian in round eight to show his mettle. In fact. Abdusattarov spent eight hours and 190 moves trying to overcome the young Turk with a queen and pawn versus queen ending but to no avail and had to settle for the draw.
It is clear that we are witnessing one of the all-time prodigies on the rise, and all one can say is: exciting times ahead!
