Can you guess who this (future) grandmaster is?

by ChessBase
3/6/2010 – Here's another puzzle from our early-pictures scrapbook: who is the child in this photo? He was a boy prodigy, who at the sensational age of nineteen became the youngest grandmaster in the world. He has beaten twelve world champions. He lives in Europe and unlike his compatriots speaks flawless English. In our report we provide you with a few more or less helpful clues.

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Who is this grandmaster?

Can you guess who the cute young child in the photo is?

Once again we provide you with some clues:

  • He started playing chess at an early age – in fact the photo above is probably the first of him with a chessboard.

  • He became an IM at fourteen and a grandmaster at the sensationally young age of nineteen. Until very recently he was the top player in his country.

  • He is from Europe, and in spite of the fact that his compatriots speak a different language he is perfectly fluent in English.

  • He has travelled extensively as a chess grandmaster, visiting a total of 89 countries.

  • He has played against and beaten twelve world champions: Smyslov, Tal, Spassky, Petrosian, Karpov, Kasparov, Khalifman, Ponomariov, Kasimdzhanov, Anand, Kramnik and Topalov. He beat Viktor Korchnoi in 1976, Tigran Petrosian in 1978 and drew Sammy Reshevsky in 1986.

  • He has received training from Boris Spassky and Garry Kasparov.

  • Last summer he retired to a plantation where he grows fruit for commercial produce.

So can you guess who this grandmaster is? As you probably know by now we are a bit sneaky with our hints. Naturally they are all true, but sometimes a little bit misleading. We will reveal the identity of our GM friend, together with more historical photos next week.


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