This is a summary of the Chess.com news article “Erdogmus Beats MVL, Smashes Carlsen's Record As Youngest In Top 50” by Colin McGourty (December 9, 2025).
A top-50 breakthrough at 14
Yağız Kaan Erdoğmuş won the six-game classical match Clash of Generations II against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (world number 15) by 3.5–2.5 at the Monte Carlo Chess Club. The result lifted him to 2669 on the live rating list and to 47th in the world, only four months after he entered the top 100. If it holds on the January FIDE list, he will have become the youngest player ever to enter the top 50, beating Magnus Carlsen's record by a full year.
Records so far
The article recalls how quickly the young grandmaster has climbed: 2400 at age 11, grandmaster at 12, 2600 at 13, and the highest rating ever recorded at ages 12, 13 and 14 (the previous mark for a 14-year-old was Wei Yi's 2634). He had reached the top 100 after beating Peter Svidler 4–2 in the first Clash of Generations in Marseille; only Judit Polgár had joined it younger, and she needed five more years to reach the top 50.
A Grand Swiss rematch
Vachier-Lagrave had beaten Erdoğmuş in round nine of the FIDE Grand Swiss in September and had called him a huge talent and a top player in the making. In Monaco, with Shakhriyar Mamedyarov as his coach, the teenager got his revenge.
How the match went
Five of the six games were short draws (30, 34, 23, 24 and 21 moves). Vachier-Lagrave later said he regretted offering a draw in game two, though he did not think it was a big missed chance. The decisive game was the fifth: Erdoğmuş chose the Exchange Variation of the Ruy Lopez, traded queens early and outplayed his opponent in the endgame (“I improved my endgame skills,” he said). In the final game, needing a win, Vachier-Lagrave sacrificed a knight on f7 on move 13, but Erdoğmuş found 16...Bf6!! and the game ended in a draw. The Frenchman admitted that his young rival calculated better.
What's next
The next record in sight is to overtake Wei Yi as the youngest player to cross 2700. Before that, Erdoğmuş plays the World Rapid & Blitz Championships in Doha (December 26–30) and, in January, becomes the youngest ever player in the Tata Steel Chess Masters.
The games
The moves come from the Lichess broadcast of the match.
Game 1: Erdogmus – Vachier-Lagrave 1/2-1/2
Game 2: Vachier-Lagrave – Erdogmus 1/2-1/2
Game 3: Erdogmus – Vachier-Lagrave 1/2-1/2
Game 4: Vachier-Lagrave – Erdogmus 1/2-1/2
Game 5: Erdogmus – Vachier-Lagrave 1-0
Game 6: Vachier-Lagrave – Erdogmus 1/2-1/2
Source: Colin McGourty, Chess.com. Photos: European Chess Union, Michal Walusza/FIDE, Cercle d'Echecs de Monte-Carlo, 2700chess.
