Back-to-Back Wins for Erdogmus at ChessKid Youth Championships
The youngest grandmaster is back at it again! Yagiz Erdogmus, the 13-year-old GM and prodigy from Turkey has just won the Under 16 section at the 2024 ChessKid Youth Championship! After clinching the first place title for the Under 13 section of this event just a week ago, Yagiz then competed in the Under 16 section. Facing no easy competition, he was able to finish in first place again with a stunning display of talent, securing his spot as one of the best young players that we've ever seen!The ChessKid Youth Championships were held June 29-July 7 in two sections, Under 13 and Under 16. The games were played with a 3+1 time control and a $15,000 prize fund.
In addition to being the 4th youngest GM in history, Yagiz has some pretty impressive stats!
After scoring 8/10 in his group, Yagiz moved onto the Semifinals, where he needed 2.5/4 to secure a spot in the Final against the previous holder of the 'youngest GM' title, Andy Woodward. Yagiz began with a 2-0 lead, lost the third game, but won the final game in style with multiple tactics and sacrifices to bring his a-pawn down the board and put pressure on his opponent. He finished with checkmate.
In the Final, fighting for the title alongside Yagiz was 13-year-old GM-elect Ivan Zemlyanskii, who defeated Abhimanyu Mishra in a nail-biting 2.5-1.5 match. This was no easy feat, as Mishra, now 15, holds the title for the youngest player ever to become a grandmaster, which he did when he was 12 years and four months old!
After trading losses, Yagiz was able to pull off a round-three win by gaining control of a contested f-file and opening up his opponent's king.
After trading losses, Yagiz was able to pull off a round-three win by gaining control of a contested f-file and opening up his opponent's king.
In the final game, Yagiz only needed a draw to win the title, but was able to seize control of the center and maintain his space advantage, slowly squeezing his opponent into an endgame with a two-pawn lead. With near-perfect technique, he won the queen-and-rook ending.
FM FunMasterMike and IM Irene Sukandar hosted the live broadcasts.
You can watch the exciting action on YouTube.
Huge congratulations to Yagiz from the ChessKid team for prevailing in not one, but two championships! What does the future hold for this talented GM? We're looking forward to finding out!