Hotshots In Chess Today

When we mention hotshots in chess today, most people would think of the Queen’s Gambit immediately. No person has seen the series and doesn’t want to learn to play chess. However, for some, it is reality. In this article, you can read about the hotshots in chess. 

Hotshots in Chess 

The Netflix series The Queen’s Gambit, which is about a fictitious young girl who successively defeats chess champions, who are much older than her, became an instant hit. You might not know, but the series is based on the book by the American writer Walter Stone Tevis.

Moreover, the teenage girl is trying to establish herself in the fifties and sixties, the era of perfect wives, with quite a bit of success. Even though the character is fictional, the series still provides a representative picture of the world of chess in many cases, and the best female chess player of all time, Judit Polgar, agrees with this.

Though, it is not realistic that the men patted the girl on the back and congratulated her on her successes. Polgar is the only female chess player, who was among the top ten players in the absolute world ranking, so she has plenty of insight into this.

All in all, the world of chess is dominated by men, especially in the past. The chess master told in several interviews that grown men did not necessarily react properly to being defeated by a 10-12-year-old girl with a ponytail. 

For example, the world-famous player Garry Kasparov repeatedly insulted the then-very young, Judith Polgar. First, in 1989, when he called the girl a circus puppet, adding that it would be better if women were more concerned with having children. Ouch, that was harsh. Even though she is already retired from competitive chess, we couldn’t leave her from this list plus, she is still active in the sport as a coach and vice president of the International Chess Federation. 

Judit Polgar, the Real-Life Beth Harmon

She started playing chess at the age of five and won the first international tournament in New York at the age of nine, which was featured on the front page of the New York Times. At eleven, she defeated a grandmaster for the first time. It’s an interesting fact that after losing, the grandmaster banged his head into the elevator door, and the same thing happened in the series too. Polgar was most likely one of the inspirations behind Harmon’s character. 

She became the world youth champion at 12 and 14 years old. Polgar won the chess Olympiad in 1988 and 1990 as a member of the Hungarian women’s team. Later, she competed exclusively with men and was the only female player to reach over 2700 points. In 2004, she was eighth in the world rankings. Also, Polgar beat one of the hotshots in chess today, Magnus Carlsen, in only 19 moves. As the best female player of all time, she earned a place in the World Chess Hall of Fame in 2022.

The Genius Kids

An American player Abhimanyu Mishra holds the world record, as he became a chess grandmaster at the age of 12, and a now eleven-year-old refugee boy from Nigeria is keeping the players of the sport in a frenzy. Prodigies whose chess career could easily be made into a film similar to The Queen’s Gambit.

As early as the 1800s, we have records of children who beat their adult opponents. For example, the legendary Paul Morphy and José Raúl Capablanca won games at the age of 12. However, Samuel Reshevsky was also a chess genius who played simulcasts at six years old.

That is a chess tournament in which a player plays against several opponents at different tables at the same time and, after each move, continues with the next opponent until each game is over. They became successful chess players as adults, which is not a certain characteristic of all child chess players.

The record holder was the now 33-year-old Sergey Karjakin, for a while until Abhimanyu Mishra came along. However, Karjakin is not the only one who won the grandmaster title at the age of 12 years and seven months. 

He learned to play chess at five and then became a member of the Alexander Momot chess club in Donetsk County, which was famous for its successful students. Sergey Karjakin also became one of the world’s key chess figures. Like Russia, more and more chess prodigies from India are entering the list of grandmasters. For India, Viswanathan Anand brought a breakthrough in this field in 1988 when he accomplished the title at 18. 

Hotshots in Chess Today

After the world record holder Sergey Karkjakin, you can also find an Indian boy on the list. Dommaraju Gukesh became a grandmaster in 2019 at 12 years and seven months. Gukesh is the third youngest grandmaster in chess history, just 17 days behind the second-place holder Sergey Karjakin. The now 16-year-old boy started playing chess at the age of 7, and his first big victory came with a school chess tournament back in 2015.

Hou Yifant is the youngest female player to ever qualify for the grandmaster title and the youngest to win the Women’s World Chess Championship. Like Judith Polgar, Hou is one of the top 100 players in the world and is widely regarded as the best active female chess player. The child prodigy received a chess set from his father when she was three years old, and after a few weeks, Hou easily defeated her parents. 

She was her own chess mentor at the age of five, and in 2003 she won the U10 Youth World Chess Championship among girls. In 2004, she started among the boys and reached 3rd place. When she was 10, Hou entered the Chinese National Chess Center, where famous grandmasters train young talents.

In 2007, one of the hotshots in chess today won the China Championship for the first time, and in 2009 she came third in the Asian Continental Championship. Here you can check out the best female chess players ever!

Magnus Carlsen – No.1 Player

Sven Magnus Øen Carlsen is a Norwegian chess player, grandmaster, five-time world champion in classical timed chess from 2013, and rapid 2014, 2015, 2016, 2019, and blitz world champion in 2009, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, Norwegian champion in 2006, U12 world championship silver medalist in 2002, five-time Chess Oscar winner. His live score of 2882 in 2014 is the highest rating in chess records of all time. Check out his odds of reaching 2900 at Megapari Sportsbook!

Carlsen became the youngest competitor in the history of men’s chess, who took first place in the world rankings for the first time at the age of 19 in 2010. In 2013, he won the world championship title after defeating India’s Visuvanatan Ánand in the world championship final.

Carlsen defended his title at the 2014 World Chess Championship with a victory over Ánand. He repeated his title defense in 2016, winning in the play-off after the match against Russian Sergey Karjakin in the World Championship final.

 Carlsen defended his world title for the third time against the American Fabiano Caruana at the 2018 World Chess Championship, where he won in the rapid games after the regular season ended. His fourth title defense took place in 2021 when he secured the victory against the Russian Jan Nepomnyashchi after the 11th game and won. He is currently the No.1 chess player in the world, though last year, he got involved in a cheating scandal. Check out the details at online gambling sites in Norway!

Hotshots in Chess Today – Tani

An ambitious Nigerian boy did not let his difficult circumstances define his future. Instead, he took control of his destiny, learned to play chess at school, and stunned everyone by winning the New York State Chess Championship.

However, that was just the beginning, as he soon won the National Master title and the FIDE Master rank. Tanitoluwa Adewumi, or Tani, is from northern Nigeria but had to flee the country in 2017 with his family.

They left everything behind, and while they waited for their refugee protection application, they lived in a homeless shelter in New York. Thanks to Tani, they rose from poverty. Tani practiced extremely diligently, spending hours on the floor of the homeless shelter studying strategies, and his hard work paid off. The then 8-year-old boy became the New York State Chess Champion in 2019 after defeating 73 of the best players in his age group, setting a new record.

After people learned about his circumstances, they created a fundraising website that raised enough to rent a two-bedroom apartment. Tani went on to achieve many more successes after that, becoming the US National Chess Master at ten and the 28th youngest player ever. He also wrote a book, and they continue raising funds for underprivileged children. Tani wants to become a grandmaster eventually, and he has a fair chance, according to Megapari Sportsbook.

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