What Is the Best Age for Chess?
By GM Lubomir Kavalek
Two major events this year demonstrated how top players, a generation apart,
could perform well at high level. When Vishy Anand, 42, defeated Boris Gelfand,44,
in the World Chess Championship match in Moscow last June, their combined age
of 86 made them the oldest players of this traditional event. Magnus Carlsen,
21, and Fabiano Caruana, 20, shared first place in the Sao Paolo/Bilbao Grand
Slam Masters final in October. Carlsen won the tiebreak and the trophy. Let's
see some remarkable achievements at different ages.
Age 15 – Fischer's record
Bobby Fischer stands head and shoulders above any player age 15 or younger.
In 1958, Fischer, 15, qualified from the 1958 Portoroz Interzonal for the 1959
Candidates tournament, securing a place among the top nine players in the world.
Nobody ever beat that record. The benchmark is too high. But as a byproduct
of his excellent result, Fischer automatically became the youngest grandmaster
in the world. That was a different story.
The title and the age attracted many young players and the race was on. Judit
Polgar, the all-time best woman, described her drive in her recent book How
I Beat Fischer's Record, published by Quality Chess. Judit was rated number
93 in the world when she became grandmaster, overtaking Fischer by 35 days.
Another Hungarian, Peter Leko, beat Polgar's record by six days. Sergey Karjakin
is the only player who got the GM title under the age of 13 in 2003.
"The grandmaster title is like a driver's licence," the late Yugoslav
grandmaster, dr. Petar Trifunovic, once told me. "You can drive a car,
but you still need some experience to do it well." He said it in the late
1960s, when there were only 70 grandmasters. The 15-year-olds show talent, but
it is still raw and in need of development.
Age 16 – Drink or drive
In America, the kids can drive at the age of 16. In Europe, they can drink
alcohol. While in 1959 the 16-year-old Fischer played his first Candidates event,
three talented Soviet players had only their first experience in international
tournaments abroad at that age. Boris Spassky shared fourth place in a strong
event in Bucharest in 1953. Anatoly Karpov, shy of his 16th birthday, won in
the Czech town of Trinec in 1967. Garry Kasparov won in Banja Luka in 1979.
All three became world champions.
Age 19 – Carlsen's record
Magnus Carlsen became the world's top rated player at 19. This month he turns
22 with his highest FIDE rating of 2848, just three points shy of of Kasparov's
record from 1999.
Age 22 – Kasparov's record
Garry Kasparov became the world champion in 1985, the youngest ever at 22.
For the next 20 years, he was rated number one in the world.
Other memorable achievements at the age of 22:
- Paul Morphy (1837-1884) returned from his victorious European tour as the
unofficial world champion in 1859.
- Harry Nelson Pillsbury (1872-1906), scored his greatest victory at the
1895 Hastings tournament, one of the all-time strongest.
- The exceptional AVRO tournament in 1938 was won by Paul Keres, 22, and
Rueben Fine, 24.
The age of 22 seems to be significant. Professional players are often born
at this age and chess becomes a major part of their lives. They begin to stabilize
their play. At the same time, a lot of talented players leave the game. They
usually finish their studies and look for jobs.
Some very talented players became world champions in their early twenties:
Mikhail Tal did it at 23, Anatoly Karpov at 24, Emanuel Lasker and Vladimir
Kramnik at 25.
Age 30 – Energy and experience
Around the age of 30, top chess players consolidate their play and may achieve
their goal combining experience with energy. Fischer became world champion at
29. Spassky was considered the world's best player in 1966 at the age of 29,
but failed to beat the world champion Tigran Petrosian in their match.
Veselin Topalov won the FIDE World Championship tournament in San Luis, Argentina,
at the age of 30. Levon Aronian, a leader of the highly successful Armenian
team, just turned 30. He is world's number two rated player, 33 points behind
Carlsen.
Age 35 –The peak age
This is the age, plus minus three years, when chess careers peak. Alexander
Alekhine was 35 when he became the world champion by beating Jose Raul Capablanca
in 1927 in Buenos Aires. We see Jose Raul Capablanca and Tigran Petrosian clinching
the world title at 32. Max Euwe did it at 34. Two old rivals, Mikhail Botvinnik
and Vassily Smyslov became chess kings at 36.
Vishy Anand won the United World Championship at 37, but he also won the knock-out
FIDE World Championship at 31.
Age 40 – Motivation
Everything above this age is a bonus. The players begin to think about retirement
and some of them depart from the spotlight. Kasparov left professional chess
shortly before his 42nd birthday in 2005.
Some grandmasters in their forties are still hanging on and perform well. Anand
is the current world champion at 42. Vassily Ivanchuk, 43, was in the Top Ten
on the FIDE list most of this year. Boris Gelfand, Anand's challenger, shared
first place at the FIDE Grand Prix in London in October at the age of 44. Motivation
is key.
Karpov played his best tournament in Linares in 1994, at the age of 42. He
finished 2.5 points ahead of his next rivals, Kasparov and Alexei Shirov, scoring
11/13. But six years later, Karpov dropped out from the Top Ten FIDE rating
list for the first time in 28 years.
Age 50 – Steinitz
After being considered the world's strongest player for 20 years, William Steinitz
finally became the official world champion in 1886 at the age of 50. Botvinnik
played his last tournament in Leiden in 1970 at 58.
Age 60 – Smyslov's record
At the age of 63, Smyslov was just one match away from playing at the 1984
World Championship, but he lost the Candidates Final to Kasparov.
Age 70 – Age of humor
The players are not expected to triumph anymore, but they can have fun. At
the age of 72, Miguel Najdorf, the late Polish/ Argentine grandmaster, scored
a decent result in a super-tournament in Bugojno in 1982. Kasparov won the event
and it was his first victory in an elite tournament. After it was over, Najdorf
came to me. "Kavalek, today is your lucky day!" "Why, Miguel?"
"Because today you shared place in a wonderful chess tournament with the
great Najdorf!"
Age 80 and beyond
Viktor Korchnoi, the two-time finalists in the world championship matches (1978
and 1981) still competes with fervor. He is ageless.
Rook and Knight vs. Rook
Last Saturday Karpov won the Trophy of Anatoly Karpov in Cap d'Agde, France.
It was an elimination rapid event and in the final match Karpov, 61, narrowly
defeated Ivanchuk, 43, with a 4.5-3.5 score. Karpov played well against Ivanchuk
in the past, but his victory was surprising. A mating attack in one of the games
reminds us of a game played by Mikhail Tal in 1968.

[Event "Trophee Karpov KO 2012"] [Site "Cap d'Agde FRA"] [Date "2012.11.03"]
[Round "2.1"] [White "Ivanchuk, Vassily"] [Black "Karpov, Anatoly"] [Result
"0-1"] [ECO "A11"] [WhiteElo "2771"] [BlackElo "2616"] [Annotator "GM Lubomir
Kavalek/The Huffington Post"] [SetUp "1"] [FEN "4R3/8/6r1/8/4n3/5k2/7K/8 b -
- 0 65"] [PlyCount "11"] [EventDate "2012.11.02"] [EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"] [EventCountry "FRA"] [SourceDate "2012.01.12"] {Karpov has
Ivanchuk's king in a mating net. He makes sure the king doesn't escape.} 65...
Rg2+ (65... Kf2 {also wins, for example} 66. Rf8+ Nf6 67. Rh8 Rg2+ 68. Kh1 (68.
Kh3 Rg3+ 69. Kh4 Kg2 {threatening 70...Rg4 mate.}) 68... Rg1+ 69. Kh2 Ng4+ 70.
Kh3 Rh1+ {wins.}) 66. Kh3 Ng5+ 67. Kh4 Nf7 ({The unfortunate position of the
white rook on e8 allows black also to win with} 67... Nh7 68. Kh3 (68. Kh5 Nf6+
{wins}) 68... Rg5 69. Kh2 (69. Kh4 Rg1 70. Kh5 Nf6+ $19) 69... Kf2 70. Kh3 Nf6
71. Rh8 Rg3+ 72. Kh4 Kg2 {and white mates.}) 68. Kh5 (68. Kh3 Rg5 69. Kh2 Kf2
70. Kh3 Ne5 71. Rh8 Nf3 {threatening 32...Rg3 mate.}) 68... Rg5+ 69. Kh4 Rg6
{The threat is 70...Rh6 mate and black has no good defense.} 70. Rh8 Nxh8 (70...
Nxh8 71. Kh5 Kf4 72. Kh4 Rh6#) 0-1
In 1968, Mikhail Tal played against the readers of Komsomolskaya Pravda, a
Soviet daily. They reached a position where only one knight move led to a win.

[Event "URS telechess"] [Site "Moscow"] [Date "1968.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White
"Pravda readers"] [Black "Tal, Mikhail"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "C57"] [Annotator
"GM Lubomir Kavalek/The Huffington Post"] [SetUp "1"] [FEN "6r1/ppp2k1p/8/7K/8/8/PPPPn2R/RNB5
b - - 0 26"] [PlyCount "4"] [EventDate "1968.??.??"] [EventType "game"] [EventRounds
"1"] [EventCountry "URS"] [SourceDate "2012.01.12"] {In 1968, Mikhail Tal played
against the readers of Komsomolskaya Pravda, a Soviet daily. They reached a
position where only one knight move led to a win. Tal chose the wrong one.}
26... Ng3+ $2 ({The winning path is beautiful:} 26... Nf4+ $1 27. Kh6 (27. Kh4
h5 28. d4 Rg4#) 27... Rg6+ $1 28. Kxh7 Rg7+ $1 29. Kh6 (29. Kh8 Ng6#) 29...
Kg8 $1 30. d4 Rg6#) 27. Kh4 $1 (27. Kh6 $2 Rg6+ 28. Kxh7 Ne4 29. Kh8 Rg8+ 30.
Kh7 Nf6+ 31. Kh6 Rg6#) 27... Nf5+ 28. Kh5 1/2-1/2
Original
column here – Copyright
Huffington Post

The Huffington Post is an American news website and aggregated blog founded
by Arianna Huffington and others, featuring various news sources and columnists.
The site was launched on May 9, 2005, as a commentary outlet and liberal/progressive
alternative to conservative news websites. It offers coverage of politics, media,
business, entertainment, living, style, the green movement, world news, and
comedy. It is a top destination for news, blogs, and original content. The Huffington
Post has an active community, with over one million comments made on the site
each month. According to Nielsen NetRatings, the site has around 13 million
unique visitors per month (number for March 2010); according to Google Analytics
the number is 22 million uniques per month.