Teenage chess genius could become youngest World Champion
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An 18-year-old chess star has secured himself a chance to become the youngest-ever World Champion.
Alireza Firouzia has just won the FIDE Grand Swiss Tournament in Latvia and is now the ninth best player in the world!
Following his Grand Swiss Tournament win, he has qualified for next year's Candidates Tournament.
The competition sees eight top chess players compete for the chance to become World Champion.
Alireza has previously played against the current World Champion chess player, Magnus Carlsen
Who is Alireza Firouzja?
Born in Iran in 2003, Alireza began playing chess at eight years old.
He showed early signs of his ability, winning Iran's national chess championship at just 12 years old - the youngest player ever to do so.
And in April 2018, when he was 14, Alireza became a chess grandmaster - a title given to only the very best chess players in the world.
However, for a while Alireza did not receive as much recognition for his ability as Iran would not allow tournaments with many countries it was not on friendly terms with.
Because of Iran's rules about who Alireza could play with, he and his family decided to leave Iran in 2019.
Alireza now plays under France's flag, and has gone on to compete against the top players in the world.
His talent made headlines in 2020 when he beat the current World Champion, Magnus Carlsen, by one point.
Alireza may now face Magnus Carlsen next year in the Candidates Tournament 2022.
One of the most famous chess tournaments of all time was in 1996 when World Chess Champion Garry Kasparov played six games against a computer called 'Deep Blue'. Deep Blue could compute 200 million positions in a second. It was able to win one of the six games against the Russian grandmaster.
What is chess?
Chess is a very, very old two-player board game.
Historians say the game is around 1,500 years old and believe that it was first created in what is now northern India.
Both players have 16 pieces each - 8 pawns, 2 bishops, 2 castles, 2 knights, a king and a queen. Each piece has a different ability based on its 'character'.
For example a king can only move one step at a time, a bishop can only travel diagonally and a knight can only move in an 'L' shape.
A player wins chess by making a successful attack on their opponent's king.
Chess is a complex game, and it often requires years of study and dedication to become a grandmaster.
Grandmasters are expert players. There are currently only 1731 grandmasters in the world.
- Published6 July 2021
