Curing the attention crisis
By Selim Gurcan
The 2006 comedy Idiocracy paints a terrifyingly funny vision of the future. After sleeping for 500 years, an average man wakes up in a world where humanity has lost all critical thinking. People water their crops with sports drinks because commercials told them "it has electrolytes". Entertainment is reduced to mindless TV, and society is close to collapsing.
For Evren Ucok, a successful entrepreneur and chess supporter, the film reads like a warning label. With children hooked on 15-second TikTok reels and AI algorithms making every decision for them, Evren fears that logical intelligence - the most important type of intelligence, including the capacity to reason, learn and adapt - is degrading, as evidenced by the most recent PISA scores across the Western world, heavily discussed in the 8 September 2026 edition of The Economist.
Pattern recognition is an important tool in modern chess, as it helps you to understand better the characteristics of a position. Particularly when you have been confronted with a surprise opening system played by your opponent, it helps when you can justEvren believes that chess is one of the best cures for the attention crisis gripping today's youth, so many of whom are trapped in the dopamine loop of short videos. Where fast-paced reels train young minds to demand instant dopamine without thinking, chess does the opposite: it forces players to calculate, evaluate and ask "why?" before committing to a move. It replaces passive scrolling with deep, focused concentration. Evren estimates that playing around 50 to 100 hours of competitive chess (even between classmates) meaningfully improves concentration ability, humility and logical reasoning in children and pre-teens, and that the effect is permanent.
An average citizen in a dystopian world 500 years from now
Backed by real commitment
That conviction is not just talk. Over the past three years, Evren has spent over $5 million on various chess causes. In particular, he supports some of the most promising young players in the world with help from renowned GMs and super-GMs who provide regular coaching.
The programme goes far beyond coaching and tournament expenses and includes career and tournament advice, chess camps, sports psychology, tailored nutrition, physical fitness and selective family stipends when necessary.
Evren also backs the Marseille Chess Club (focused on top young talents in France and underprivileged children in Marseille), the European Chess Union (focused on women's and seniors' chess), the Monte Carlo Chess Club (which won the European Women's Cup several times), and the Istanbul Chess Club, where Evren cut his teeth as a young teenager.
He is also funding advanced technology, for example chess super-engines that can calculate 500 million moves per second, and a professional chess platform for serious players that provides advanced features, encourages social play within and between offline clubs and prevents bad behaviour (cheating, stalling and trolling). His team also researched micro-devices used in OTB cheating and alerted the relevant FIDE, ECU and national authorities and tournament organisers.
The whole programme started with a single talent: GM Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus, a Turkish prodigy who was on the brink of quitting chess for lack of support in August 2023, before he and his family met Evren through Selim Gurcan (FM, chess author and a close friend of Evren since their early teenage years around 35–40 years ago). Evren agreed to support Yagiz for at least five years and “do whatever it takes” for him to realise his full potential. Selim's close friend GM Mert Erdogdu agreed to coach Yagiz intensively. With their combined help, Yagiz went from zero GM norms to three GM norms in three consecutive tournaments, and the GM title followed soon after in April 2024.
Yagiz, Mert and Evren at Selim's house in December 2023 | Photo: Courtesy of Selim Gurcan
As Yagiz got stronger and stronger, Mert passed the flag to Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, former world No. 2 and also a long-term friend of Selim. The team also organised several training camps with top GMs and three different matches (titled Clash of Generations) for Yagiz to play and train against super-GM opponents. In these matches, Yagiz scored 12.5 points in 18 games and gained valuable experience in elite-level chess. This performance also helped him cross 2700 Elo (super-GM level) at the age of 14, the youngest in history. Now 15, Yagiz is the world's No. 1 junior (under 20).
Our experts show, using the games of Botvinnik, how to employ specific openings successfully, which model strategies are present in specific structures, how to find tactical solutions and rules for how to bring endings to a successful conclusionThe success of Yagiz encouraged Evren and Selim to support more prodigies, including Ediz Gurel and Isik Can, who, together with Yagiz, make up the top three in Turkiye by Elo, as well as the Turkish national team.
Gaining confidence from the programme's success, they soon began supporting top talents from other countries too.
Clash of Generations: Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus v. Peter Svidler (eight-time Russian champion) | Photo: Marseille Chess Club
Luca Protopopescu (age 10)
They started with Luca Protopopescu, a young talent from Marseille discovered by GM Mert Erdogdu, a close friend of Selim who had coached Yagiz when he was younger. With Mert’s help, Luca became the youngest person in history to cross 2200 Elo - the rating level separating top amateurs from real professionals - at the age of 9 years and 5 days. A long and highly personalised congratulatory letter soon followed from President Emmanuel Macron of France.
Luca with his cup and reading Asterix after the French Championship in May 2025 | Photo: Courtesy of Selim Gurcan
Bodhana Sivanandan (age 11)
Evren started supporting Bodhana in January 2026 after he and Bodhana's father, Sivanandan Velayutham, were introduced by UK chess legend Malcolm Pein (and soon became friends). Already a rising star, Bodhana soon became the youngest girl in history to defeat a 2600+ rated GM, breaking a record held since 1988 by chess legend Judit Polgar, who is widely considered to be the strongest woman chess player in history and featured in the popular Netflix documentary “Queen of Chess”. A couple of weeks after this success and an ambitious chess camp in Marseille organised by her coach, GM Mert Erdogdu, she became the youngest British Women’s Champion in history at the age of 11.
Bodhana Sivanandan as British Women's Champion | Photo: Yury Krylov
Marc Llari (age 13)
Marc is no stranger to success. In June 2026, after working for 10 months with Mert, he won the U12 (under-12) World Cup with an impressive score of 9/11 and finished the event undefeated. The Marseille-trained prodigy also won his first IM norm at the Spilimbergo Masters tournament in Italy in August 2026, scoring 5.5/9 with draws against GM Jan Šubelj (2549) and GM Kirk Ghazarian (2535), for a 2456 performance rating.
Chess is a concrete game. There is no way around training your calculation skills. Improve your visualization, pattern recognition and learn calculation techniques such as reciprocal thinking with this course.
Calculation is at the heart of practical chess. Every chess concept builds on proper calculation technique. Therefore, all chess players should continuosly train the fundamental techniques, concepts and patterns this course will present. The goal isn't only to teach you to calculate, but to give you the tools and insights to keep improving long after the final lesson.
Free sample video: Introduction
Free sample video: Quiet Moves
Marc as U12 World Champion in June 2026 | Photo: FIDE
Christian Glöckler (age 14)
Evren started supporting Christian in March 2026 after hearing about the impressive talent from IM Stefan Löffler. Shortly afterwards, the German IM won the Masters Open at the renowned 59th Biel International Chess Festival in July 2026 with a round to spare, scoring 8/10 with a 2597 performance and clinching his first grandmaster norm, sealed by a ninth-round win over GM Dimitris Alexakis. Already rated above 2500, he now needs two more norms for the GM title.
Christian won the 2026 Tata Steel Qualifiers with a remarkable 8½/9 | Photo: Lennart Ootes
Atilla Kuru (age 15)
Evren and Selim started supporting Atilla in December 2024 after meeting him and his parents through Turkish GM Dragan Solak. After his first GM norm at the 2024 European Individual Championship, Atilla took his second norm at the Sardinia World Chess Festival in May 2026. Days later, he finished second at the Young Talents GM Norm tournament in Stockholm. With his score of 6.5/9, he won 13 rating points and passed the critical threshold of 2500 Elo. Shortly afterwards, at the 27th Sants Barcelona Open in August 2026, he secured his third and final GM norm. He finished the ten-round event unbeaten with a 2656 performance, taking his rating past 2520 and making him Turkiye's latest grandmaster at 15.
Atilla, Marc and Luca, with Mert and Selim | Photo: Courtesy of Selim Gurcan
Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus (age 15)
In August 2026, just after turning 15, Yagiz became the world's highest-rated junior (under 20) as well as the youngest person in history (by a wide margin) to exceed 2700 Elo.
At the recent 2026 Chess Olympiad, Yagiz was first board for Turkiye, playing against many top super-GMs, including Abdusattorov, Caruana and Keymer. Despite the difficult field, he scored 8/10 (6 wins, 4 draws) with a 2839 performance, which earned him the silver medal on board 1. He also gained 15 Elo points, increasing his live Elo to 2731 (No. 17 globally).
This DVD focuses on several types of material imbalances, such as Rook vs 2 Pieces, Queen vs 2 Rooks, and Queen vs Pieces.
Live rating list after the 2026 Olympiad
Aydin Suleymanli (age 21)
Azerbaijani talent Aydin Suleymanli showed steady improvement last year. He recently defeated Uzbek rising star Mukhiddin Madaminov 4.5–1.5 in a six-game match, pushing his rating above 2670 for the first time and placing him firmly in the top 50 of chess at No. 45. Coached by the legendary Rustam Kasimcanov, the first world chess champion from Uzbekistan (another Turkic country), as well as by Shakhriyar from his home country, the young Turk is now playing board two for his country at the Chess Olympiad in Samarkand (behind Shakhriyar) and working towards reaching 2700 Elo.
Rustam and Aydin after Aydin's surprising victory over chess GOAT Magnus Carlsen in the World Team Rapid and Blitz Championship in June 2026 | Photo: Michal Walusza
Isik Can (age 21)
The oldest member of the prodigy group, GM Isik Can won the 2026 Liaocheng Rising Stars tournament in China without losing a game, defeating 2618-rated GM Aleksey Grebnev along the way. The 2025 Turkish Champion also led the University of Missouri to the US National Collegiate title. Studying business at the University of Missouri, Isik earned his GM title during his first semester, showing that academic and elite chess ambitions can go hand in hand. At the time this article is being written, Isik is playing board three for Turkiye in the 2026 Olympiad.
2025 Turkish champion Isik Can with his cup | Photo: Turkish Chess Federation
Clash of prodigies
The top two of these prodigies, Aydin Suleymanli and Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus, found themselves competing head-to-head at the Biel Masters Triathlon. Aydin finished second in the Biel Masters Triathlon and Yagiz Kaan third, behind only the experienced elite player Levon Aronian. Aydin had stepped in at short notice, and Yagiz posted the second-best result of the blitz phase - more evidence of the fearless, attacking chess that lit up his Tata Steel Masters run earlier in the year.
Aydin and Yagiz playing at the Biel Masters Triathlon | Photo: Biel Chess Festival
Marseille chess camp and Cannes family gathering
These impressive results are only part of the story. Beyond teaching concentration and humility and improving logical reasoning, chess also brings people together, and it builds lasting bonds between players, coaches and families, as two recent gatherings in the South of France showed.
At the training camp between 13 and 18 July hosted by Marseille-Echecs, which is headed by Laurie Delorme and William Azari, GM Mert Erdogdu and GM Pierre Laurent-Paoli trained with prodigies Bodhana Sivanandan, Marc Llari, Luca Protopopescu and Joachim Le Geay. The reigning European Women's Champion, 15-year-old Anastasiia Hnatyshyn (whom Evren met through his Ukrainian friend IM Igor Berezovsky), joined the camp as a guest for a few days. The camp turned out to be remarkably productive, and impressive results followed shortly afterwards. Bodhana and Marc earned their first IM norms after a few weeks. Anastasiia now leads the strong Ukrainian women's team at the 2026 Chess Olympiad.
Anastasiia, Bodhana, Marc, Luca and Joachim with GM Laurent-Paoli | Photo: Courtesy of Selim Gurcan
In this insightful video course, Grandmaster David Navara shares practical advice on when to calculate deeply in a position — and just as importantly, when not to.
In this insightful video course, Grandmaster David Navara shares practical advice on when to calculate deeply in a position — and just as importantly, when not to.
Free sample video: Introduction
Free sample video: Invisible moves
The social bonding power of chess was on full display after the recent Cannes tournament in February 2026, attended by all the youngest prodigies. After the Cannes tournament, Evren and Mert gathered with Bodhana, Luca, Marc and their families to relax. They also played "Hand and Brain", the format in which one player names a piece and their partner has to find the move, a game that runs entirely on empathy and teamwork, something that no engine can replicate.
The fun continued over bughouse (four-person chess on steroids), where Evren and Bodhana again took on Mert and Luca. The latter team won all the bughouse games because they had been working closely for two years and were able to communicate in French, which Bodhana and Evren don't speak. At least, that was the excuse of the losing team.
More importantly, the concentration and human connection that Evren fears the digital world is quietly erasing were exactly what filled the room. Chess may sharpen the mind to survive an AI-driven world - but its greatest power, on the evidence of that afternoon and many others like it, is bringing people together through something wholly human.
Bodhana and Evren played "Hand and Brain" against Luca and Mert - draw | Photo: Courtesy of Selim Gurcan
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