BENGALURU: Around 5.00 PM on Sunday, there was an interesting dynamic unfolding on Board 3 in the match between PBG Alaskan Knights and CheQ Mumba Masters. It was, in isolation, a match between a 15-year-old and somebody almost thrice his age. Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus vs. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov. But, in essence, it was a contest between student and teacher. Not just any student, though. Within the wider chess community, Erdogmus has been held as the game's newest thing for at least the last three years. When he was 14, Magnus Carlsen had said Erdogmus was 'the best 14-year-old chess has ever seen'.
When Erdogmus was in Goa to play in the World Cup, a few cameras seemed to shadow him whenever he was outside the confines of his room. It got to such a point that the organisers had put up an invisible perimeter around the precocious Turkish teen whose ambitions are already positively Everestian.
During an interaction with select media a day before the Global Chess League (GCL), the wunderkind from Bursa opined that he had it within him to scale 2900, a rating that even the likes of Magnus Carlsen, Viswanathan Anand and Garry Kasparov failed to achieve (2900 is considered to be this sort of mythical chess landmark). "Yes, 2900 will be tough but I can do it," he said. "I think Magnus is the best player ever, but he couldn't reach 2900. I'm not feeling the pressure now, because it's so early, I have to reach 2750 first, and I have other goals too."
What are the other goals of somebody who had become the youngest to achieve the rating of 2600 and 2700? It involves winning the biggest events in the world including, if possible, becoming a world champion in the Classical format. That will come as music to FIDE, the world governing body, because at a time when a lot of players want to experiment with new formats and shorter time controls, somebody like an Erdogmus wanting to achieve something in Classical lends it further gravitas. "Classical is the most important format (for me)," he said.
How did chess happen to Erdogmus, especially because he comes from a country with minimal chess heritage. "I really liked the game, I was beating everyone, I was just so motivated. I mean, chess made me very happy, when I played chess I was just feeling very happy,” he said.
India may be chess' latest capital but Erdogmus, like almost every current Indian player, is ready to dedicate his life to the game. It's why he has no problems admitting 'I have no academic goals'. "I don't have any academic goals, so I'm focussed on chess, I'm just going to school, because in Türkiye you have to go, and you have to, you know, pass the exams."
Over the board, he has passed most of the exams he has faced over the last year or so. At a Classical event in Stockholm where Carlsen was part of the event, he finished in third apart from going undefeated in the Classical section at the Biel Chess Festival, where he was up against the likes of Matthias Bluebaum and Levon Aronian.
Like most GenZs in the chess community, he believes in playing proactive chess where the pieces continue to search for openings to attack the opposition. Sometimes, such a strategy can lead to long-term weaknesses. That capacity to push makes him a thrilling player but it also leaves him vulnerable to counter-attacks from experienced campaigners. It's what ultimately cost him the game against Mamedyarov. "There were 100 ways in which I could have done a draw, but I wanted to win, and then I didn't convert," he would later say in the mixed zone.
Keep an eye out for one of chess's most talented kids. For if there's anybody out there capable of denting India's hegemony in the game, it could be him.
