When you think of the best of the best, usually you think of the people who are usually older and more capable with a lot of experience, like Ronaldo in football or Lebron in basketball. But, in some areas, this narrative is flipped on its head, where people as young as the age of 9 have taken crowns from other people who have been the best for years. In this article I'm going to explore 2 specific youngsters, and how they have excelled and shaped their field in the years to come.
1. Gukesh Dommaraju
Born in Chennai, India in 2006, Gukesh showed a prodigious talent for chess from a young age. In 2015 he won the Asian School Chess Championships, in 2018 the World Youth Chess Championships in the U12 category, and just a year later became, at the time, the second youngest player to receive the Grandmaster title, just 17 days behind Sergey Karyakin (who was beaten by Abhimanyu Mishra). Gukesh continued to score impressive results, like scoring a perfect 8/8 at the 44th Chess Olympiads, tying for first at the WR Masters tournament with Levon Aronian and Ian Nepomniachtchi, and dethroning Viswanathan Anand as the highest-rated player from India, a feat that had not occurred since 37 years prior.
This is not the reason why Gukesh is on this list, although it is a factor. In 2023, Gukesh qualified for the FIDE Candidates tournament, where the winner plays for the World Championship title, the third youngest to do so only behind Bobby Fischer and Magnus Carlsen. There he had tough opponents, the fellow prodigies Alireza Firouzja and Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, former world championship challengers in Fabiano Caruana and Ian Nepomniatchi, and fan-favorite Hikaru Nakamura, to name a few. But against all odds, Gukesh scored 8.5/13, only losing one game, and qualified to challenge Ding Liren later this year.
The magnitude of this achievement is not fully appreciated in this article, a 17 year old beating out veterans like Fabiano, who almost beat Magnus in their world championship match, and Ian, who won back to back candidates (2020 and 2022) is unthinkable. Gukesh is truly a legend, and this writer is sure that we will see the next Viswanathan Anand, maybe sooner than expected.
2. Yiheng Wang
When you think of the best cubers in the world, no one probably comes to mind because you have no idea who any of the cubers are. Maybe Feliks Zemdegs, who dominated for a few years before quitting for a bit. But there probably is one trait that comes to mind for top cubers: experience. So it should come to a shock to you (or maybe not) that a 9 year old is probably the best cuber in the world, and, if he's not now, he will be in the future. Born in 2014 in China, Yiheng started cubing competitions at the age of 5, and within 1 year had brought his average down from 30 to just 7 seconds. And he was 6 at this time. From there he managed to bring down his average to consistently sub 6 at the age of 9, and it was then when he achieved his greatest achievement, quite possibly to not be surpassed in a while.
It should be noted that usually an average of 5 solves, with the best and worst not being counted, is usually more important in terms of skill than one single solve, since one solve has a lot of luck factor when 5 solves still has luck, but more about consistency. Well at the age of 9, Yiheng broke the 3x3 average world record in the March of 2023, and then beat it again just 3 months later with an average of 4.69, and then an incredible 4.48. To really understand just how incredible a sub-5, let alone a low 4 average is, let's take a look at the only other two cubers who can be compared with Yiheng Wang's skill level, Tymon Kolasinski and Max Park.
Max Park, who currently holds the 3x3 single record with 3.13, and Tymon were from 2021 in a competition for who could get the 3x3 world record average.
It was a hard-fought battle, with Tymon bringing down Max's record by almost .2 seconds, and then Max beating it by .01, then Tymon brought the record down by another .2, but Max amazingly perfectly tied it just 3 months later. And this is where the record stood, for almost a year until Yiheng came around and absolutely demolished it, twice in the same year.
He is not the only young prodigy of cubing, people like Leo Borromeo come to mind. But losing to Max Park by just .01 seconds in the 2023 Cubing World Championships, and beating Tymon Kolasinski in the finals of the 5th season of Monkey League, Yiheng is sure to be one of the best, and possibly the best, cubers for a while.
There are sure to be many other examples of young people at the top, but none quite dominate like Gukesh, who won a convincing tournament to challenge Ding Liren, and Yiheng Wang, who at the age of 9 is already a top contender to being the best at what he does. Surely, we'll only see more examples of young people rising to the top, and challenging the older and more experienced competitors. There's only one question: Who's next?
Works Cited
McNicol, Andrew. “Indian Teenager Becomes Youngest Challenger for World Chess Title, Will Face Reigning Champion from China.” CNN, 23 Apr. 2024, www.cnn.com/2024/04/23/asia/india-teenager-chess-champion-china-intl-hnk-spt/index.html.
“Records | World Cube Association.” Www.worldcubeassociation.org, www.worldcubeassociation.org/results/records?event_id=333&show=history.
“Yiheng Wang (王艺衡) | World Cube Association.” Www.worldcubeassociation.org, www.worldcubeassociation.org/persons/2019WANY36.
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