In November 2022, Turkish newspaper Hürriyet reported that Germany wanted 11-year-old chess prodigy Yağız Kaan Erdoğmuş to play for its national program. The news, written by Beyazıt Şentürk, quickly drew attention in Turkish chess circles. In this video, FM Selim Gürcan comments on the story and analyzes one of Yağız's recent games.
The news
According to the Hürriyet report, Yağız Kaan, a student at Bursa Saadettin Türkün Middle School, is one of the brightest young talents in Turkey, and a foreign federation has shown interest in him. The headline warned Turkey not to "let the champion get away".
Why it matters
Young talents are the future of any federation. Selim Gürcan stresses that such players need long-term support from the Turkish Chess Federation (TSF), from their clubs and from their families, and that keeping a rising talent is far cheaper than losing him. The video also mentions that the federation is aware of the situation and that Yağız is preparing for events later in the year, including a tournament in Barcelona in December.
The game: Erdoğmuş (2276) – Solodovnichenko (2561)
The video ends with a game Yağız played against the much higher-rated Yuri Solodovnichenko. He answers the Sicilian with 3.Bb5+, builds a space advantage and keeps the initiative through the middlegame. Around move 30 the discussion turns to a possible exchange sacrifice on d5. Moves were read from the video board and verified for legality up to 31.R5d3; the rest of the game is not included here.
Watch the video
Source: Hürriyet, report by Beyazıt Şentürk; video commentary by Selim Gürcan.
