How to Beat A Chess Prodigy
Playing against children in open chess tournaments has become a very common experience in modern chess. One of the beautiful things about chess is that age, race, and gender hardly matter at the board. Even a 10-year-old can compete against experienced masters and have a genuine chance of succeeding. Of course, that assumes they have been studying relentlessly and playing countless games online—and right now, my friends, we are living through a true chess boom.
Thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic and the enormous popularity of the Netflix series The Queen’s Gambit, chess has experienced a massive surge in popularity. A new generation of young players is eager to prove themselves. Many of these kids have already played more online games than you may have played in your entire lifetime. Some start extremely early—at age five or even younger—and with proper guidance and support, they can climb the chess ladder at an astonishing pace.
One of my students even wrote a book for kids starting even earlier.
CHESS FOR BABIES IS OFFICIALLY OUT TODAY
— GothamChess (@GothamChess) March 3, 2026
This was a fun project: creating a high-contrast illustrated book for small children that also has a bonus online course for parents (or babies) to improve their chess.
The book is also chew-proof. pic.twitter.com/VUYIIfMO9t
We call them chess prodigies—future grandmasters and perhaps even future members of the world elite. So, imagine the situation: you are about to face one of them in a tournament. Your opponent sits across from you with intense eyes and a wide grin, clearly excited for battle. What should you do?
Despite their extraordinary talent and rapid improvement, young prodigies are still developing players. Their games often contain certain weaknesses that experienced players can exploit. Let’s discuss some practical strategies that can help you outwit them and improve your chances at the board.
Here are the strategies discussed in this article:
- The Endgame Myth
- Kill the Tactics
- Play an Unusual Opening System
- Exploit Positional Assumptions
- Play Until the End
- Enjoy the Experience
The Endgame Myth
There is a popular belief that the best strategy against child prodigies is to steer the game into an endgame. The reasoning seems logical: since they have not played as many classical games in their relatively short careers, their endgame experience might be limited.
Furthermore, the endgame follows a somewhat different set of principles. In the opening and middlegame, control of the center is paramount; in the endgame, however, a distant passed pawn can often be stronger than central pawns. Earlier in the game, the king must be carefully protected, but in the endgame, the king becomes one of the most powerful and active pieces on the board. These are subtle ideas that young players may not fully appreciate yet.
However, the situation today is slightly more complicated. Modern prodigies are catching up quickly. With powerful engines, online training platforms, and professional coaching, many of them study endgames extensively from an early age. Therefore, relying solely on this traditional wisdom may not always be enough.
Instead, I advise several practical approaches that can significantly improve your chances when facing a young talent.
Kill the Tactics
For chess coaches, teaching tactical patterns and attacking ideas is often much easier than explaining subtle positional concepts that may take years to master. As a result, many young players are trained first and foremost to calculate tactics and attack the opponent’s king.
Take India as an example. Today, it is arguably the strongest chess nation in the world, producing a remarkable number of elite young players. In many training programs, tactical sharpness is emphasized early on, while deeper positional understanding develops later. With this in mind, ask yourself a simple question: why engage a tactical prodigy in a tactical battle?
Instead, consider steering the game into calmer, more positional territory. Aim for slightly closed structures where maneuvering and long-term planning are more important than immediate calculation. Focus on improving your pieces, maintaining a solid structure, and slowly increasing the pressure. Young players are often excellent attackers—but defending a slightly worse position for many moves requires patience and maturity that they may not yet possess.
A famous example of this approach can be seen in a game between GMs Anatoly Karpov and Judit Polgar, who was still a teenager at the time.
As you can see, Karpov made very practical opening choices and steered the game into a position where Polgar could not unleash her tactical strength. Instead, she was forced to maneuver patiently—something that was not nearly as appealing.
Young prodigies are often emotional competitors. A quiet middlegame full of slow maneuvering is far less exciting than launching a spectacular attack against the enemy king. As Judit herself later admitted in her Netflix documentary, during her teenage years playing for a draw simply was not an option.
Play an Unusual Opening System
Another cornerstone of prodigy training is opening preparation. Young talents often know enormous amounts of theory. With powerful memory and modern training tools like the Chessable platform, they can absorb complex opening repertoires with astonishing efficiency. Some of them may even enter the game with preparation comparable to that of a super-grandmaster.
Unless you are a theoretical expert yourself, challenging them directly in the main lines may not be the best strategy. Instead, consider choosing a less popular system—perhaps an older line that has fallen out of fashion, or a quiet variation that rarely appears in modern repertoires. The move does not have to be dubious; it simply needs to be something unfamiliar.
When this happens, the prodigy will often try to apply patterns from other openings they know, attempting to improvise based on similar structures. If you have studied the position more deeply and can anticipate their typical reactions, you may suddenly find yourself with a very comfortable position.
A good example of this idea appeared in a game between GM Anna Ushenina and the young prodigy WIM Bodhana Sivanandan.
Bodhana encountered a setup against the Reti Opening that she was not familiar with, and Ushenina adopted a rare structure that quickly created confusion. After the opening phase, the experienced player obtained exactly the type of position she had hoped for.
Exploit Positional Assumptions
Modern prodigies often receive exceptional coaching. Many of them work with multiple coaches and can spend up to eight hours a day studying chess. They constantly learn new strategic concepts and positional ideas. However, what they often lack is practical experience in classical over-the-board games. Online blitz games do not fully replicate the demands of deep positional play.
As a result, young players sometimes develop rigid assumptions about certain positions. They may believe that a particular pawn break must be played, or that a structural advantage must be pushed immediately. Combined with their natural impatience, this can lead to over-pressing.
A good illustration occurred in a game between the talented GM Yagiz Erdogmus, already rated around 2450 at the time, and former Candidates participant GM Kirill Alekseenko.
In this game, the young prodigy went for a central pawn break at the wrong moment. Alekseenko’s experience allowed him to anticipate this decision and exploit it perfectly. I’m sure that after the game, Erdogmus received several specialized lessons about the timing of central pawn breaks—but at that moment, he was simply not ready for it.
Play Until the End
Let’s say you have followed all the advice so far. You avoided tactical complications, chose an unusual opening system, and tried to exploit positional assumptions—yet the prodigy still maintains a completely equal position. Do not lose heart. There is still one more weapon available: persistence.
Even if the position appears dry or symmetrical, keep playing. Experienced players often feel very comfortable in long, technical endgames. Meanwhile, younger opponents may become impatient or lose concentration. You might be surprised how often children make mistakes in seemingly simple positions.
I apologize for showing another game featuring Bodhana, but she is a truly fascinating talent. Since that game, she has improved enormously. I had the opportunity to witness this firsthand at the 2026 ChessKid U-13 Championship, where she won several games thanks to excellent endgame technique.
Enjoy the Experience
Finally, enjoy the experience! You might be playing against a future world champion. This could be one of the very few opportunities you ever have to defeat them. So, make the most of it—beat them while they’re still young, and years later you can proudly show the scoresheet when asking for their autograph!
