ChessKid Youth Championship To Start May 3 With Strongest Prodigies In The World
We're excited to announce that the ChessKid Youth Championships are returning for their second edition in 2025! This online blitz event will bring together the strongest prodigies of the game and offer fans a glimpse of the bright future of chess.
The event will feature a $15,000 prize fund and two groups, with the under-13 group playing on May 3 and 4 and the under-16 group on June 7 and 8. Each group will compete in a double round-robin, with the top two from each group advancing to a knockout final, all with a 3+1 blitz time control.
The ChessKid Youth Championship is Chess.com's premier event for young players. The event serves as yet another proving ground for the 24-player field of record-breaking young talents.
Coming back to defend his crown is GM Yagiz Erdogmus. The 13-year-old from Turkiye made headlines when he became the youngest player to ever cross the 2600 rating barrier in 2024. That same year, he won both the under-13 and the under-16 sections of the ChessKid Youth Championships. Though he can't play in the under-13 section anymore, Erdogmus is the highest-rated participant and one of the favorites to win the under-16.
Another young player who's set to make some noise this year is the young IM Faustino Oro. Hailing from Argentina, the "Messi of Chess" turned into a worldwide phenomenon when he became the youngest international master in history.
Other players competing in the under-16 group are the youngest ever to attain the grandmaster title, GM Abhimanyu Mishra; Chess.com Puzzles Champion, GM Andy Woodward; the youngest British grandmaster in history, Shreyas Royal; 2025 Women's American Cup winner, IM Alice Lee; IM-elect Tani Adewumi; 2024 Women's Chinese Champion, IM Lu Miaoyi; and IMs Ryo Chen, Yu Tian Poh, Mukhammadzokhid Suyarov, and Marco Materia.
Fans will also see familiar faces among the youngest participants playing in the under-13 group. One of them is WFM Bodhana Sivanandan, the World Under-8 Champion and the youngest player ever to represent England at the Olympic level.
Another young English talent, FM Ethan Pang, is also joining the field. The 10-year-old wunderkind made news when he broke Oro's record to become the youngest player ever to surpass the 2300 rating mark. Pang achieved this impressive feat after gaining a remarkable 70 points when he tied for first in last year's Vezerkepzo IM Tournament in Budapest.
Ethan Pang - the youngest ever 2200 player - has just crossed 2300! 🤯 Congrats Ethan! pic.twitter.com/SVlbX2O1zx
— ChessKid.com 👑 (@ChessKidcom) October 31, 2024
Playing in the under-13 category are also the 2024 FIDE World Cadet Rapid & Blitz Championship double-gold WFM Megan Paragua; 2023 Youth Speed Chess Championship winner IM Aaron Mendes; youngest-ever to beat a grandmaster, CM Ashwath Kaushik; FMs Mathias Casalaspro, Reyaansh Chakrabarty, Patrick Liu, Andrew Jing, Mark Smirnov, and Andrei Negrean; and CM Supratit Banerjee.
Fans can watch the event live on our Twitch and YouTube channels, starting with the under-13 group on May 3 and 4 at 9 a.m. ET / 15:00 CEST / 6:30 p.m. IST. Tune in to enjoy every move by the youngest stars of the game, with live commentary by GM Ben Finegold and FM Mike Klein.
Who do you think will win in each group? Let us know in the comments below!
