This article is based on the Chess.com report “Erdogmus Enters World Top-100 At 14, Breaks Yet Another Age Record” by Tarjei J. Svensen, summarised here in our own words.
Into the world top 100
Turkish grandmaster Yağız Kaan Erdoğmuş is now part of the world's top 100. FIDE's August 2025 rating list, published on a Thursday, gave him a new personal best of 2642, which put him at world number 88. Only one player in history got there younger: Judit Polgár, who was 12 when she reached number 55 in 1989 with a rating of 2555. That makes Yağız the second-youngest player ever to enter the top 100.
Yağız told Chess.com that he is delighted, that he had been waiting for this moment for a long time, and that after all the hard work he believes he has earned his place among the top 100.
The Marseille match against Svidler
The final push came at the Clash of Generations in Marseille, France (24-30 July), where Yağız played a mixed classical and blitz match against Peter Svidler and picked up 16 rating points. Svidler took the blitz portion 10-2, but Yağız won the classical games 4-2 with victories in games one, four and six.
Game four was the highlight: Yağız beat Svidler's favourite Grünfeld in only 22 moves with a spectacular rook sacrifice. Before the last classical game the score stood at 3-2, and Svidler, with Black, had the chance to level it. Yağız slowly improved his position instead, won a pawn on move 30 and kept control until the end.
The match was sponsored by Evren Ucok, an e-commerce entrepreneur who has supported Yağız for several years. His backing allows the young player to work with Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, then ranked 11th in the world, who travelled with Yağız to France.
A string of age records
Yağız crossed 2400 at the age of 11 in 2022, earned the grandmaster title at 12 at the end of 2023, and is currently the youngest grandmaster in the world and the fourth-youngest ever. At 13 he became the youngest player to reach 2600. Just two months after turning 14, he also became the highest-rated player in history before the age of 15, passing Wei Yi's 2634 from 2014. He already held the records for the highest rating before turning 13 (2569) and 14 (2626).
Tai Pruce-Zimmerman, the founder of Chess by the Numbers and its Prodigy Watch, remarks that being ranked first among prodigies almost undersells Yağız. At his age he is not just the highest-rated player ever but is also 61 rating points ahead of the second-best, none other than Magnus Carlsen.
What is next
Yağız is due to play the FIDE Grand Swiss in Uzbekistan (4-15 September) and the FIDE World Cup in India (30 October to 27 November).
Source: Tarjei J. Svensen, Chess.com. Images: Chess.com.
