8-Year-Old Roman Shogdzhiev Amazes Chess World By Beating 5 Grandmasters
The exceptional feat of eight-year-old Roman Shogdzhiev, triumphing over five grandmasters in the World Rapid and Blitz Championships, earned him praise from his idol, GM Magnus Carlsen.
Carlsen's double victory in the recently concluded event in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, wasn't the sole headline-making story. Other noteworthy incidents included Polish star GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda's refusal to shake hands with Russian GM Denis Khismatullin, and the pre-arranged knight dance of GMs Daniil Dubov and Ian Nepomniachtchi.
A more positive story was the outstanding performance of the youngest players in the event, particularly eight-year-old Shogdzhiev, whose rapid result will go down as one of the most sensational in chess history.
"This is truly remarkable! The youngest grandmasters we have are 12 years old. This is a world sensation," NRK's lead commentator IM Torstein Bae said on Norwegian TV.
The Russian beat two formidable grandmasters and secured draws against three others. He can potentially claim to be the youngest player to beat a grandmaster in a rapid event, based on Chess.com's unofficial research. GM Awonder Liang holds the record as the youngest player to defeat a grandmaster in classical chess, accomplishing the feat at the age of nine in 2012.
Shogdzhiev's first grandmaster triumph came against Uzbek GM Jakhongir Vakhidov, an Olympiad champion, in round one. He continued with draws against experienced GMs Aleksey Dreev and Gadir Guseinov in rounds two and four.
His next victim was GM Johan-Sebastian Christiansen, who told Norwegian TV: "I had never even heard of him before—maybe I should have. It's pretty crazy to be that good when you are eight years old. When I was at that age, I had barely learned the rules."
The final part of the game was recorded by ChessBase India.
"I should never in my life have lost that game, but I managed to mess it up in time trouble. Regardless, he played on an enormously high level and in a mature way," Christiansen said.
The 8-year-old even drew attention from Carlsen:
"Those kids are strong! It's very impressive," he told NRK. "It's fun to see—maybe we'll see him at the very top in a few years."
In an interview with NRK, Shogdzhiev's mother said her son started playing chess during the pandemic at the age of five. She said he is determined to work hard to fulfill his dreams.
"We were not aware of his talent. We have regular jobs and Roman wanted to play as a child. We wanted him to do something for his future and his mind and not play computer games or watch YouTube. To play chess is good for him."
And what's the future goal?
"To become world champion. And beat Magnus Carlsen!" The prodigy eventually got to meet his hero in Samarkand.
One of the biggest finds of World Rapid 2023, 8-year-old Roman Shogdzhiev with the Champion, Magnus Carlsen!
— ChessBase India (@ChessbaseIndia) December 29, 2023
Roman gained 182 elo points in this event, defeating 2 GMs and 2 IMs. What a talent! pic.twitter.com/4Yqpil2H3g
He finished the rapid on an astonishing 5.5/13 score and a rating performance of 2429, gaining 182 rating points. His performance wasn't much worse in the blitz where he beat strong GMs Kirill Shevchenko, Alan Pichot and Pranav Anand in addition to one IM.
Shogdzhiev is originally from Elista in the Russian republic of Kalmykia, known as the venue of several chess events in the nineties thanks to former FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov. The family has now moved near Moscow. Shogdzhiev already has several prestigious titles under his belt:
- 2023 World Under 8 Champion (with 11/11)
- 2023 Asian Youth Under 8 Blitz Champion (with 9/9)
- 2022 European Youth Under 8 Champion (as a seven-year-old)
Shogdzhiev lost almost a hundred classical rating points in the Asian Under 8 Championship in December and, with a classical rating of 1802, is ranked only eighth in the world among players born in 2015 or later. However, he dominates in rapid (2224) and blitz (2198), ahead of another eight-year-old prodigy, Britain's WCM Bodhana Sivanandan, who dazzled in the recent European Blitz Championship.
Shogdzhiev wasn't the only kid to beat a grandmaster in Uzbekistan. 10-year-old FM Faustino Oro, the youngest ever to break 2300, beat Khismatullin in the World Rapid Championship.
The ChessKid sponsored prodigy also finished off IM Rudik Makarian with a stunning move.
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