12 March 2019
“Two years ago, on the recording of one of the TV shows, Misha came to wish me well on my 55th birthday, and I played chess with him,” says Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, sixth President of FIDE. “It was a great match. The fact that Misha is a very talented chess player was immediately apparent. He has a brilliant memory and, I am sure, a great future. In chess, there is no such thing as “early”. All parents want their children to be extraordinary. And playing chess is only beneficial.
And if their child likes to play then why not? Chess develops both hemispheres of the brain. Children need it, and then life will tell in which area the child is especially talented. Not every chess player who played well in childhood becomes a brilliant player. At different times, one name then another, surfaced, but then they quickly disappeared from the horizon. Some could not cope the difficulties, some had no luck with a coach, and someone’s talent was overestimated. But all of them, I assure you, have grown up to be wonderful and intelligent people.
Today I will repeat with confidence: Misha is a very talented chess player. Prodigy. Chess prodigies are quite common. Misha was born in 2013. I would like to note that some young chess players become grandmasters over the years; others quit chess or simply remain good players. The prodigies of the 19th century were Paul Morphy and José Capablanca. Both beat adult rivals at the age of 12. Their names have forever remained in chess history. Before reaching adulthood, many became grandmasters. Here are the most famous of them: world champions Boris Spassky, Garry Kasparov and Vladimir Kramnik (Russia), world championship participants Nigel Short (England), Alexander Grischuk and Alexander Morozevich (USSR, Russia), Gata Kamsky (USSR, USA). The number of chess geeks is growing, with 13-year-olds becoming more and more outstanding. The same Sergey Karjakin became a grandmaster at the age of 12.
