Two World Champions at 18-Years-Old
There are persisting discussions about the new, young generation of players, born around 2003 or later, replacing the seasoned familiar names at the top rankings. We already have the likes of Erigaisi, Gukesh, Abdusattorov, and Firouzja in the Top 10 of the world rankings. Some might consider Firouzja, for instance, a familiar seasoned name like Magnus and Fabi – that’s how long he has been up there. Another testimony to this discussion of this surging young generation is the fact that the current World Rapid Champion, Volodar Murzin, and the World Chess Champion in classical Chess, Gukesh Dommaraju, are the Youngest players in the World Top 100 at the moment!
Volodar Murzin at 18 years and 5 months became the uncontested World Rapid Chess Champion in New York, less than a month ago. Murzin came to the spotlight for his strong performances at a very young age and has been a familiar name since. This video of a mere 12-year-old Volodar Murzin made waves when he was seen crying after a loss at World Blitz 2019. Even though Murzin was just an IM back then, he managed to beat 5 Grandmasters in that tournament, collecting more than 100 Elo points! The love these young prodigies have for chess becomes clearer when we witness such moments. Murzin has made steady progress and currently stands at rank 69 with 2657 elo rating.
All the fans of this growing sport have witnessed the fairy tale run of Gukesh D. Gukesh made a statement when he became the third youngest player to cross 2700 back in 2022 when he led India’s B team to a Bronze medal and an Individual Gold at the first board at just 16 years of age! Gukesh then went on to become the youngest player to break 2750 with a series of impressive results and now stands in the top 5 with 2777 as the Youngest undisputed World Champion.
Recently, we saw another prodigy, Javokhir Sindarov, break into the 2700 club. Many others are regularly knocking at the door, waiting for their breakthrough—Nihal Sarin is one such name right up there. With the strength and passion the youth possess, their journey to the zenith seems inevitable.
