Guess The Prodigy—Can You Out-Trivia Magnus, Hikaru, Alireza & Denis?

In the world of chess, a prodigy is more than just a talented kid. A chess prodigy defies their age and, while still in grade school, often topples seasoned, adult grandmasters.

The four GMs Magnus Carlsen, Hikaru Nakamura, Alireza Firouzja, and Denis Lazavik had all been child prodigies themselves, but how much do they really know about other rising stars? Chess.com recorded a video to test the elite players on their knowledge of records set by other prodigies. Check out our video below, and keep reading!

The grandmasters in our latest video were once the definition of the term "prodigy." Before becoming the 16th world champion, Carlsen became a grandmaster at just 13 and famously drew against 13th World Champion Garry Kasparov at the same age. Hikaru Nakamura broke 11th World Champion Bobby Fischer’s long-standing record to become the youngest American GM at 15.

Firouzja more recently became the youngest player ever to break the 2800 Elo barrier, surpassing a record previously held by Carlsen himself. Rounding out the group is Lazavik, a modern blitz phenom who earned his GM title at 15 and is already a dominant force in elite online speed chess.

Read on to test yourself and compare your knowledge with the superstars! Can you do better?

The Questions

• Youngest To 2500 FIDE
• Youngest-Ever Grandmaster
• Youngest Women's World Champion
• Youngest To Defeat A GM In Classical
• Youngest Ever International Master
• Youngest Ever 2300 Classical
• Youngest To 2800 FIDE
• Youngest Ever In The World Top-100
• Highest Ever Rated 13-Year-Old & 14-Year-Old
• Youngest Ever Female Player To Beat A GM In Classical
• Youngest Undisputed Classical World Champion
• Youngest Woman Ever To Become A Grandmaster

SPOILER ALERT! STOP SCROLLING NOW! If you decide to self-test, stop here. You should write down answers to every one of the questions above, and only continue reading when you are ready to see the answers and their explanations.

Youngest To 2500 FIDE

Reaching the 2500 Elo threshold is the hallmark of grandmaster strength. The player just barely broke the previous record and is the only person ever to accomplish the feat before his 12th birthday. What were you up to when you were 11 years old?

Magnus: "That's not so easy actually. Unless Shogdzhiev crossed it very recently, I'm guessing it's 11. Maybe it's Faustino? I'm gonna guess Faustino."

Hikaru: "I don't know who this is, but since I don't lose money for guessing, like in Jeopardy!, I'll just take a guess anyway. 2500, youngest, I'll just guess Faustino. It's probably wrong, but I'll just guess Faustino Oro."

Alireza: "Can it be [Abhimanyu] Mishra?"

Denis: "Faustino Oro?"

Correct Answer: Argentinian IM Faustino Oro, often nicknamed "the Messi of Chess," crossed the 2500 rating barrier at the age of 11 years, 11 months, and 10 days in September 2025. He was also the youngest international master in history at the age of 10. He can still break the record for youngest grandmaster in history, but only if he achieves the title by March 11, 2026.

You can see the other youngest players to cross 2500 below.

Youngest Players To Cross 2500 Elo

Youngest-Ever Grandmaster

The grandmaster title is the highest official title one can receive in chess. The player accomplished this incredible achievement not too long ago, and it's one of the most prestigious records, so the grandmasters unsurprisingly all got it right. They can surely all remember the headlines.

Magnus: "Mishra broke the record. I'm assuming he still has it. Abhimanyu Mishra?"

Hikaru: "Abhimanyu Mishra from the United States of America."

Alireza: "Mishra, right?"

Denis: "Mishra?"

Correct Answer: American GM Abhimanyu Mishra earned the grandmaster title at 12 years and four months. In 2021 he scored his third norm, having already crossed the 2500 rating barrier, in Budapest, and broke the record held by Russian GM Sergey Karjakin for 19 years.

Youngest Women's World Champion

Only two of the superstars got this question right. This record involves surpassing even the legends of the Georgian era and the Polgar sisters.

Magnus: "I think Chiburdanidze had the record. She beat Gaprindashvili when she was 17 or something, but I think Hou Yifan was 16 when she beat [Koneru] Humpy." Carlsen is spot on!

Hikaru: "Nona Gaprindashvili?" 

Alireza: Maia Chiburdanidze or Nona Gaprindashvili, "some of these Georgians."

Denis: "Hou Yifan."

Correct Answer: Chinese GM Hou Yifan became world champion in 2010 at 16 years and 300 days. Before her, the previous record-hold was indeed one of Firouzja's guesses, Georgian GM Maia Chiburdanidze, who was 17 years old and 252 days—back in 1978!

The legendary Georgian GM Nona Gaprindashvili was a decent guess, but she was 21 years and 212 days when she earned the title. She held the record for 16 years before Chiburdanidze, as a teenager, took away her crown.

Youngest To Defeat A GM In Classical

The gap between a prodigy and a seasoned GM is usually vast, but some kids score the big W early! It's not a surprise that no one got this right question right because the answer is constantly changing. The current record-holder, however, is a boy from Singapore.

Magnus: "I don't know who it is, but I'm gonna guess that person was seven years old." [This was the only question Carlsen got wrong.]

Hikaru: "I might say, who is Ethan Pang?"

Alireza: "It's either Faustino Oro or Mishra or something. Faustino maybe?"

Denis: "Faustino Oro!"

Correct Answer: On February 18, 2024, Singaporean FM Ashwath Kaushik was eight years and six months old when he beat GM Jacek Stopa. Since then, Ashwath has turned 10 years old, earned his FIDE master title and scored his first IM norm.

Youngest Ever International Master

Before the GM title comes the IM title, and this record was shattered recently—in 2025!

Magnus: "Roman Shogdzhiev."

Hikaru: "I don't follow it. I honestly only know two of the junior kids, so I'm not even going to guess. I have no idea."

Alireza: "Pragg?" [Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu]

Correct Answer: Russian IM Roman Shogdzhiev earned the title at the age of 10 years, three months, and 21 days at the RadnickiChess tournament in Serbia in May, 2025. The record was previously held by Oro. In addition, the prodigy made news two years earlier when, at the age of eight, he defeated five grandmasters at the 2023 World Rapid and Blitz Championships.

Check out some of the other youngest players to reach the 2400-rating mark (though not necessarily the IM title too!). 

Youngest Players To Cross 2400

Youngest Ever 2300 Classical

2300 classical rating gets you the FIDE master title. Both Carlsen and Nakamura were aware of this young record holder.

Magnus: "Ethan Pang?"

Hikaru: "Ethan Pang."

Alireza: "Ah, there is a kid, I know him! I don't know the name, but I've played this guy actually!"

Denis: "Roman Shogdzhiev!"

Correct Answer: English FM Ethan Pang is the youngest player to reach a rating of 2300 at nine years and 226 days. He was also the youngest to break 2200, but that record has since been broken by French CM Luca Protopopescu, currently nine years old.

Congratulations to Ethan Pang of England (born March 2015!) who will cross 2200 on the July FIDE supplement to make him the youngest ever to do so.

Here’s Ethan after winning last year’s @ChessKidcom puzzle competition at London’s ChessFest pic.twitter.com/NtII7AYE9O

— Mike Klein (@ChessMike) June 5, 2024

Check out some of the other youngest kids to break 2300:

Youngest Players To Cross 2300

Youngest To 2800 FIDE

Only a handful of players in history have ever touched the 2800 mark. This record belongs to the elite of the elite. And if you'd read this article carefully, you may have noticed that the answer was already spilled in a previous paragraph!

Magnus: "Alireza, I suppose."

Hikaru: "If it's wrong, it's wrong, but I'm just gonna say, who is Magnus Carlsen?"

Alireza: "It's me, yeah." FM Mike Klein asks if it's the record he's most proud of and he responds, "It's the only record I have, probably!"

Denis: "I think it's either Magnus or Arjun [Erigaisi]. Okay, let's say Arjun."

Correct Answer: Indeed, it's Firouzja, one of the participants! He was 18 years and five months old when he broke 2800 in November 2021. At the time, he went 8/9 at the European Team Championship and had just reached the world number-two position behind Carlsen. Firouzja is world number-six on the live rating list at the moment and one of the most dangerous opponents in any time format, but especially in bullet chess, as he is the reigning and three-time bullet chess champion.

Youngest Ever In The World Top-100

Breaking into the top 100 is the final step before becoming a world-class contender. But who was the youngest to do it? Some may be surprised to see the answer, and Carlsen was the only contender to get it right! There was a documentary recently made about her.

Magnus: "I'm guessing that's Erdogmus?... Oh, youngest player to reach top 100: Judit Polgar? 12 and a half years?"

Hikaru: "I'll say Wei Yi."

Alireza: "Wei Yi? Kasparov?"

Denis: "I choose between like Kasparov, Fischer, [Anatoly] Karpov? I don't know."

Correct Answer: Hungarian GM Judit Polgar entered the top-100 at just 12 years old. She is often referred to as the greatest woman player of all time. On February 6, 2026, Netflix released the documentary Queen of Chess that follows her trajectory from modest beginnings to the very top of the chess world.

She still shares her talent and knowledge as a commentator for top chess events. Once in a while, she'll even sit again at the board, like in the 2022 video below, where she beat Carlsen in just 19 moves.

Highest Ever Rated 13-Year-Old & 14-Year-Old

Which star had the highest live rating at these specific ages? Hint: it's the same player for both ages!

Magnus: "I was 2580 when I was 13. I think that's pretty far up the list. I don't think Yagiz Erdogmus was that high rated when—maybe it was him, I don't know."

Hikaru: "Erdogmus?"

Alireza: "Awonder Liang or something?"

Denis: "Wei Yi?"

Correct Answer: Turkish GM Yagiz Erdogmus, currently rated 2669 at the age of 14, is the answer for both. After being told the answer for the highest-rated 13-year-old, all the contestants correctly identified Erdogmus as also the highest-rated 14-year-old.

Erdogmus is one of the most impressive players of the upcoming generation, and he has a whole host of accolades. For example, he was the youngest player ever to reach a rating of 2600, and he's still getting better. He has also participated in ChessKid's Youth Championships online; in 2024 he won both the U13 and U16 sections, and he was already the world's youngest GM at the time.

Carlsen was right to think he was high up on the list, by the way. He falls in second place, right under the Turkish star.

Top 14-Year-Olds In History

Youngest Ever Female Player To Beat A GM In Classical Chess

Who's the youngest lady to take down a grandmaster? The hint is that she's English!

Magnus: "Bodhana [Sivanandan] probably."

Hikaru: "Who is Susan Polgar?"

Alireza: "Gaprindashvili." When told the answer, he asked, "She's a grandmaster? Oh, I got your question wrong, sorry!"

Denis: "Judit Polgar?"

Correct Answer: At the age of 10, WIM Bodhana Sivanandan defeated GM Peter Wells. She is a ChessKid ambassador and continues to get better, and not just in over-the-board classical chess. Just recently, at the 2025 Speed Chess Championship held in London, she beat IM Levy Rozman three times in back-to-back games.

She received widespread attention when, at the age of eight, she defeated 79-year-old former British Champion Peter Lee in a Chess.com video.

And at the age of nine, she visited the greatest female player of all-time to receive a masterclass.

Youngest Undisputed Classical World Champion

This was a bit of a giveaway question, as you'd have to be sleeping under a rock to miss this one! This world champion was crowned in 2024, just two years ago. All four contestants got it right, of course.

Magnus: "Gukesh."

Hikaru: "That would be Gukesh from India."

Alireza: "Gukesh, right?"

Denis: "Someone from the Soviet Union, I think? Oh, sorry, of course Gukesh!"

Correct Answer: GM Gukesh Dommaraju, the reigning world champion, broke the record for the youngest title holder at the age of 18 and six months when he defeated GM Ding Liren in 2024. He is still the world champion and is expected to defend his crown at the end of this year. The 2026 FIDE Candidates Tournament, at the end of March, will determine his challenger.

A bit of bonus trivia: GM Ruslan Ponomariov was also 18 and younger than Gukesh when he won a separate FIDE world title in 2002, but it was a knockout tournament and he did not beat the reigning champion in a match. Thus Gukesh is the youngest undisputed champion.

Youngest Woman Ever To Become A Grandmaster

This record stood for many years before being challenged by the new generation. A little hint is that the player was already the answer for a previous question! Again, Carlsen was the only contestant to get this one right.

Magnus: "I think Judit became a grandmaster when she was 15. Hou Yifan, I think, was 14. The question is if there's anybody younger. Who would that be? Nah, it's gotta be Hou Yifan."

Hikaru: "It's like one of two people again. I'm gonna say, who is Judit Polgar?"

Alireza: "Gaprindashvili?" (laughing)

Denis: "Judit Polgar?"

Correct Answer: Hou Yifan, who was also the youngest women's world champion at the age of 16, became a grandmaster at the age of 14, as Carlsen correctly remembered. Along with Judit Polgar, she is one of the absolute legends of the game.

Bonus: GM Koneru Humpy is the second-youngest at the age of 15 years and one month. Humpy is another legendary woman player, and most recently she scored her second World Rapid Championship title in 2024, five years after earning the title for the first time.

Besides learning about a number of records, we also learned that Carlsen is quite the chess historian! He got all the questions right except for one.

How many did you get right? Share your result in the comments below!