Sport - Chess   

Karjakin is youngest ever Grandmaster

Chennai Aug. 18. Ukraine's chess prodigy, Sergey Karjakin became the youngest ever Grandmaster when he completed his final GM norm at the age of 12 years, 7 months, 2 days in the Sudak tournament in Ukraine.

Karjakin, who had made his earlier GM norms at Alushta-100 Tournament in the Ukraine and the Aeroflot Open in Moscow, beat China's Bu Xiangzhi's record by a massive 15 months. Xiangzhi got his norm at the age of 13 years, 10 months, 13 days.

Karjakin is not totally unknown. He was the cynosure of all eyes at the closing ceremony of the FIDE World championship in Moscow this January. As Vassily Ivanchuk and champion Ruslan Ponomariov were busy giving interviews, Karjakin played blitz chess and beat top GMs.

Ukraine is in the news again. In October 2001 it won the World team championship at Yerevan and it was an all-Ukrainian final at the FIDE World championship, with Ponomariov being crowned the youngest World champion at 18 years.

Youngest men's GM down the years (read as Player, age while receiving final GM norm): Bobby Fischer (15 years, 6 months, 1 day), Judit Polgar (15y, 4m, 28d), Peter Leko (14y, 4m, 22d), Etienne Bacrot (14y, 2m, 0d), Ruslan Ponomariov (14y, 0m, 17d), Bu Xiangzhi (13y, 10m, 13d), Sergey Karjakin (12y, 7m, 2d). — Our Chess Correspondent

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Sport

News: Front Page | National | Southern States | Other States | International | Opinion | Business | Sport | Miscellaneous |
Advts: Classifieds | Employment | Obituary |

Stories in this Section

Badminton

• Abhinn Shyam, Polsana triumph
  
  Chess
  
• Anand-Ponomariov duel in balance
• Karjakin is youngest ever Grandmaster
• Shetty snatches sole lead
  
  Cricket
  
• Players, ICC stand firm
• TNCA President's XI, MAC-TNCA in last eight
• Akhtar recalled
• Shastri to represent players
• An amicable settlement is the need of the hour
  
  Tennis
  
• Bopanna is the player to beat
• Indian teams finish seventh
• Leander to play in Asian Games
  
  Table Tennis
  
• Soumyadeep, Mouma reign supreme
  
  Volleyball
  
• Thailand outplays Kazakhstan
  
  

Copyright © 2002, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu