Alireza Firouzja's Rise to Chess Domination
How did a 16 year old kid rise to the elite levels of chess, becoming a super grandmaster and defeating the strongest players in the world, such as World Number one Magnus Carlsen?
Meet Alireza Firouzja.
Now 17 years old, the Iranian teenager rose to prominence after becoming the second youngest player to reach the 2700 Fide Rating.
For those who don’t know, essentially, Alireza is a prodigy. He is currently ranked 18th in the world, has won major tournaments, especially the tournament at Prague, which drew him comparisons to the greatest chess players of all time, such as Bobby Fischer, Garry Kasparov, and the man who has become his biggest rival, Magnus Carlsen.
Today, we are going to explore the life and young chess career of a kid who has been called by many as the next world champion. Although his career is filled to the brim with promise and potential, along with a legendary work ethic, it has also included some setbacks along the way.
See, in this world, nobody is perfect. Not even chess super grandmasters.
Alireza Firouzja was born in Babol, Iran on June 18, 2003 (which is only 9 days away from my own birthday).
Now Alireza’s upbringing is somewhat unlike many other chess grandmasters. See, normally, a player of Alireza’s level have parents that force them into chess at a young age of like 4 years old.
However, Alireza’s father, then real estate agent in Iran, in this interview with ChessBase India, says that he has never even played chess; Registering Alireza for a chess club was somewhat of a mistake, and Alireza’s dad doesn’t really seem like the type of helicopter parent—you know, the type of father who controls 100% of his kid’s life.
Now, like other chess grandmasters growing up, it was evident from a young age that Alireza was different. His prowess for forward-thinking came when he was just 9 years old, through the game of soccer, or football if you’re not from America. Alireza’s coach, Mohsen Sharbaf, recalled that Firouzja would watch soccer games on TV, mainly of FC Barcelona. Alireza had an uncanny knack for predicting where the ball would go. His father remarks that when Alireza played goalkeeper for his team, he would stop every shot, as he knew where his opponents would shoot.
One step ahead of his opponent. Like chess.
Now, I know what you may be saying: C’mon, man. Many people can predict where someone can pass the ball in a soccer game. But here’s the gist: Alireza had something special. A gift.
As his youth progressed, Alireza dove headfirst into chess. But he was not your normal chess-playing kid. No, he was not. Here’s a quote from his coach.
“Even when he was 10-11, he used to tune into all the big games around the world. He used to come up with interesting observations, and then there was a game between two grandmasters wherein he pointed out where one of them had made a mistake and offered a solution in minutes. He was a chess maniac. Before local tournaments, he used to practice 3-4 days without too much sleep. He might look very sleepy, but still made the right moves.”
This is something that may go unnoticed about chess grandmasters at the top level; they have an extraordinary work ethic. And Alireza Firouzja leads the pack. He has admitted that all he focuses on is chess. He is obsessed, and his prowess has showed in his results, as he has been called the next world champion by many strong chess grandmasters.
Alireza burst onto the scene in 2015 at the age of 12, where he won the Asian Youth Chess Championship. He then became the youngest ever to win the Iranian Chess Championship in 2016, becoming an International Master.
Real quick for everyone who is new to chess, the so-called titles traditionally go from Candidate Master to Fide Master to International Master to the big one, Grandmaster.
Also in 2016, at the 42nd Chess Olympiad, a 13-year old Alireza made this confident claim:
“I see Mr. Carlsen and Mr. Karjakin, I think that I will be stronger.”
What a bold claim. Although many at the time may have scoffed at this, Alireza continued to prove them wrong. In 2018, Alireza became a grandmaster at the age of 14, claiming victories at tournaments such as the Asian Nations Cup and the World Youth U16 Chess Olympiad.
His first huge success in the chess world came at the World Rapid Championship held in St. Petersburg, Russia. Alireza was the 169th seed out of 206 participants at the event and shocked everyone by taking 6th place.
Wow. Crazy, right?
Rounding out his spectacular 2018, Alireza, leading the World Blitz Championship with a score of 6.5/7, he had his first of many run-ins with the number one, the man considered widely to be the GOAT of chess, Magnus Carlsen. Alireza lost.
Now, keep in mind that Magnus vs Alireza pops up throughout this article. This game was only the beginning of a budding rivalry between the two.
Alireza started 2019 off with a bang, winning tournaments such as the Iranian Chess Championship. He also competed in tournaments such as Reykjavik Open, scoring second place.
Now, this is where the first controversy of Alireza’s chess career begins. Now, I mentioned before how Alireza’s chess career has not developed completely without adversity.
I’m not going to go in depth on this subject, but essentially, Iran, Alireza’s home country, and the country of Israel do not associate. This dates back to the First Gulf War. So it is obvious that this issue is bigger than chess.
Here’s how it goes: In the Grenke Chess Open in Germany, Alireza is having a great tournament. After winning his first two games, he matches up against Israeli FIDE Master Or Bronstein. Now, this game would normally be a piece of cake for Alireza. He’s nearly a super-grandmaster going up against someone who is 500 points lower than he is.
Side Note: For those who are not familiar with the chess world, Grandmasters pretty much destroy all FIDE masters.
Now, because Bronstein was from Israel, Iran forced Alireza to forfeit the match, as Iranians do not like nor even recognize Israelis, and playing the match would cause Alireza to be sanctioned by his country. If you are reading this as a westerner such as myself, you may find it ridiculous and unfair. But get this: Alireza had to forfeit ANOTHER match after being paired with Israeli player Antonia Ziegenfuss.
So, Alireza lost to two opponents that he could have probably beaten in his sleep just because of a political feud. Seems completely unfair, right?
Well, Alireza and his father thought so too. On December 27th, right before the new year, Alireza announced that he would be self-exiling from Iran. This was after Iran announced that they would be withdrawing their players from the 2019 World Rapid Championship because of the Israeli players in it.
Personally, I feel as if this was great for Alireza. He took control of his own destiny and fought back against a government that oppressed him. To make a decision to leave a country that you’ve grown up in to a whole new world in France, risking the wrath of many government officials in Iran is a decision that I could not fathom making.
It proved to be a smart move for his chess career as well, as he placed second in the World Rapid Championship behind, you guessed it, Magnus Carlsen.
Now, this is where another controversy arises. In January of 2020, Alireza competed in the Master’s Section of the Tata Steel Chess Tournament, held in the Netherlands. In his first classical tournament against the world’s elite, or “supertournament,” Alireza finished ninth place, which included a controversial loss against (you already know) Magnus Carlsen, in which Alireza had a winning position, but was down on the clock. I’ve attached a link to watch this endgame here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xrYzfVBKf0&t=910s
In summary, Alireza accidentally knocked his king down, causing the clock to run out, which led to Alireza losing the game. Alireza was visibly upset about this, as he would have easily won the game if he had just a couple of more seconds, and could not have lost. He appealed the ruling, but lost it.
Now, if you ask me, the ruling is stupid and Alireza is completely justified being unhappy with it. Let me know in a comment how you feel about it.
The next month, Alireza fully bounced back, winning his first supertournament at sixteen years old at the Prague International Chess Festival. This win led many to draw comparisons between him and the all-time chess greats such as Mikhail Tal, Bobby Fischer, and Garry Kasparov. Alireza’s sharp chess style was very entertaining and took the chess world by storm.
The COVID-19 pandemic did not stop Alireza; in fact, it only made him more famous. He won $14,000 and finally beat Magnus in the Chess24 Banter Blitz Final. Magnus then narrowly triumphed Alireza in his own invitational tournament, signifying the duels that are yet to come in the future between the two. In October, at the Norway Chess Tournament, Alireza again fell just short against Magnus, finishing second in a very strong field. He garnered praise from Magnus:
“He’s going to be a very good player for a very good time. I expect a lot of duels against him.”
Alireza is currently playing in the Skilling Tournament at the time of writing this, and I wish him all the best. He seems like a very humble person, and has already made a life-altering choice that many teenagers like myself could not imagine making. Alireza’s incredible work ethic and phenomenal chess skill will surely take him far, and I will agree with the consensus: He will be a World Champion.
Please leave a comment if you enjoyed this article. I enjoyed doing my research and writing it.
Thanks for Reading!
Jack Connelly
