91Èȱ¬

8 of the world's best young game players

D Gukesh.Image source, Twitter/@ChessbaseIndia

A 12-year-old boy called D Gukesh has become the world's second youngest chess grandmaster.

He missed the title of becoming the youngest by just over two weeks, at the age of 12 years, 7 months and 17 days.

He has taken the title for India's youngest chess superstar, though.

The boy from Tamil Nadu in the south of India is not the only young player to excel when it comes to playing games, though.

Sumire Nakamura

Image source, Getty Images
Image caption,

Sumire Nakamura told a press conference: "I'm happy when I win"

In January 2019, it was announced that a Japanese schoolgirl is set to become the youngest professional player of the board game Go.

On 1 April, Sumire Nakamura will be just 10 when she enters the lowest professional rank of the game.

Go is a two-player game in which players take turns putting black or white stones on a grid. Sumire began playing when she was just three years old.

Rubik's Cube solved in under 5 seconds

In November 2015, a 14-year-old American boy called Lucas Etter became the first person to solve the Rubik's Cube puzzle in less than five seconds.

He sorted the cube out in just 4.904 seconds, shaving 0.35 seconds off the previous record set by teenage Collin Burns earlier than year.

He told 91Èȱ¬ Radio 5Live it had taken him five years to break the five-second barrier.

Youngest professional Fortnite player

In April 2018, Kyle Jackson - a 13-year-old boy from Kent - became Fortnite's youngest professional player.

Image caption,

Kyle is one of the youngest professional gamers in the world

He said he was living every child's "dream" as part of Team Secret Fortnite's four members.

Kyle said he only actually started gaming at the age of eight, but within three years he had noticed that he was "probably better than the average player".

Youngest professional video gamer

Professional video gamers have come even younger than Kyle though!

According to the Guinness World Records, the youngest ever signed professional video gamer was a boy known as "Lil Poison" called Victor De Leon III.

Image source, Guinness World Records
Image caption,

This boy currently holds the Guinness World Record for youngest professional video gamer

The record was set in 2005 when the boy signed an exclusive deal with the organisers of Major League Gaming.

He first picked up a controller at the age of two and entered his first competition - a Halo tournament in New York, where he lived - at just the age of four.

Young chess champion

Image source, Jitendra Singh
Image caption,

Shreyas Royal has competed in European and world championship tournaments

Nine-year-old Shreyas Royal is one of the country's finest chess minds.

He and his family made the news recently, after it was reported they would have to leave the UK and return to India when his father's work visa expired in September. But now, the family are being allowed to stay.

91Èȱ¬ Secretary Sajid Javid, an important member of the government who was involved in the decision for his family to stay in the UK, said described Shreyas as "one of the most gifted chess players in his generation".

Leon Watson, secretary of Battersea Chess Club where Shreyas is a member, said: "Shreyas is a very nice, down-to-earth young man who has a big future ahead of him on the world stage - hopefully representing England."

A Fifa champion is born

Image source, EA Sports /Fifa
Image caption,

16-year-old Donovan 'DhTekKz' Hunt playing in the FUT Champions Cup tournament last year

Last year, 16-year-old Donovan 'DhTekKz' Hunt from Exeter caused a stir when he won a massive Fifa gaming event - the global series FUT Champions Cup - beating many established players.

What is FUT?

According to EA Sports: "Fifa Ultimate Teamâ„¢ (FUT) is the most popular mode in Fifa, played by millions all over the world every day. FUT lets you build your dream Fifa squad from scratch and compete with it in a variety of single player and online modes."

He wasn't a professional and had gone along to his opening round of the tournament in Barcelona with his parents.

After his victory, his advice to budding young Fifa players was: "Tell your mum about Fifa, she'll be your inspiration. [Mine has] helped me a lot along the way."

Teenage Tetris player takes world title

In October 2018, 16-year-old Joseph Saelee defeated a seven-time world champion Jonas Neubauer to become king of the classic video game Tetris.

Watch the video below to see the tense moment that the youngster took the title! It's impressive stuff.

Media caption,

Teenager becomes world champion (Pictures: Tetris Championship)

Jonas had nothing but praise for the teen after his performance.

"The kid played with pure heart, the most clutch Tetris that we've seen from anyone," he said, according to the gaming website Kotaku.

"He just really had the ability, had the natural ability, and let it shine as bright as he could in his first tournament. [It's] truly an honour to pass the torch to the new generation of Tetris players."