There’s something incongruous about logging on to chess-dot-com and seeing the smiling face of Hikaru Nakamura streaming Titled Tuesday from the comfort of home while the rest of the chess elite is playing in the FIDE Grand Swiss in Samarkand. Sure, he’s a jet-setter on the weekends, first to Louisiana and then Iowa1, closing in on the forty rated games he needs to qualify for the 2026 Candidates Tournament and creeping towards Carlsen’s #1 spot in the process. I’ve got more to say about these shenanigans, but there’s some research and math involved, so I’ll save it for a future post. For now, having watching the bloody first half of the FIDE Grand Swiss, I’ll just say this — can you really blame him?
Full writing process transparency: this post was originally called “Baby Sharks” after the briefly endearing but ultimately obnoxious song that my oldest kids have mostly forgotten about2 and my youngest has never been introduced to. But then I started watching Alien Earth and I realized that what we’re seeing from 16 year-old Abhimanyu Mishra and 14 year-old Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus at the FIDE Grand Swiss can’t be conveyed by a reference to a dopey animated shark but only by the frickin’ Xenomorph itself. We’re talking top of the food chain here and everyone, no matter how strong, is a potential victim.
Your first encounter with a future chess prodigy is likely one of curiosity. Much like finding a strange egg in the farthest reaches of space, you might wonder, who is this tiny person? Can they really be dangerous? With proper safety precautions you can beat them, but victory has a way of turning into hubris, and before long you’re confronted with the facehugger.
Stage two of the Xenomorph life cycle is much creepier than its chess equivalent, but both signify a shift in the power dynamic. In the Alien franchise, you’ve got a tentacled creature attached to your face for the next few days. In chess terms you’re faced with this future prodigy who used to be your client, but now you just can’t shake them. They don’t hang pieces anymore. They play quickly and confidently. They play good openings and know an awful lot of theory. They recognize the critical moments. I knew I was in the presence of a face-hugger with the phenom Nicholas Nip back in 2009, when after getting a bad position he sunk into a twenty-minute think on move 23 and found the most critical way to push back my attack. Or when the young Sam Sevian liquidated a slightly worse rook-ending to a draw in 2012 like he had decades of experience.
And then the prodigy drops out of sight. You, class-player or expert or even master, sparring partner of their youth, are no longer sufficiently strong opposition. They’ve moved on to bigger tournaments outside of the local chess scene but not notable enough to make international news. Perhaps their skill is gestating in the care of a renowned coach, much like the growth cycle of the Xenomorph inside a human host. Perhaps there’s a global pandemic that shuts down in-person tournaments for a year or two, but there’s no stopping the growth of the prodigy, whose improvement now takes place in secret.
The hatching of the Xenomorph is surprising, erupting as it does from the chest of its host, but also not entirely unexpected. After all, didn’t that guy have an alien lifeform stuck to his face just a little while ago? Wasn’t that kid beating experts and masters at the local club a few years back, all while sitting on a booster seat so he could see the board? Of course they’re going to become an apex predator, kicking ass and taking names at the top level. But no matter how many times you’ve seen it happen, welcoming a new prodigy to the top of the chess world is always fun to watch.
If you’ve been following the Grand Swiss at all, I’m sure you’ve seen the games and positions featured here, but they really are quite impressive. Mishra and Erdogmus haven’t been perfect, but they’ve been leaving a trail of chewed up GMs in their wake, as well as managing some facehugger-style saves. First up is Mittal-Erdogmus from round four:
37 … Qxf2+! was a spectacular finishing blow. White was a good sport and played it out to mate: 38 Rxf2 Re1+ 39 Kh2 Rxf2+ 40 Kxh3 Rh1+ 41 Kg4 f5+ 42 Kh5 g6#.
Perhaps even more impressive was Erdogmus’s save in the following round against Abdusattorov:
Black has been patiently suffering for a long time — we’re past the century mark — and finally Abdusattorov makes a play for the b-pawn. But 105 … g5 is a little fork trick to get the g-pawn rolling, and after 106 Be3 Nxf3+ 107 Kc5 g4 108 Kxb5 g3 black was able to escape into a pawn down queen ending, which he finally drew on move 190!
Erdogmus also dug into his bag of tricks to save a busted position against Gukesh in round two, but Mishra was not to be outdone in his game against the champ:
I got the feeling while watching the game that Gukesh was playing provocatively on purpose, trying to coax a mistake out of his young opponent. It’s foolish to provoke a Xenomorph, as once white plays 38 Bd4 black’s king is in a mating net, and the only way out, 38 … Rf3+ 39 Ke1 Nd3+ 40 Kd2 Nxe5 drops a piece to 41 Bxe5 Kxe5 42 Rg5+. With that win, Mishra became the youngest player ever to beat a reigning world champion.
Mishra picked up an early victory against another 2700+ opponent when he beat the experienced grandmaster Yu Yangyi after a tactical oversight:
Black just captured on h5, missing 29 f4! If black takes on e3 (or moves his rook anywhere alongtheu e-file) then Rxg7+ is a discovery on the now undefended queen. If 29 … Rf5 30 Rh1 traps her majesty, so Yu gave up his queen with 29 … Qxg4 but lost after a long endgame grind.
The kids are in rarified air, breaking records set by the previous generations of Fischers and Polgars, hunting down elite grandmasters who just a year or two ago were the new wave of apex chess predators themselves. Will either Mishra or Erdogmus qualify for the candidates this year? It will be pretty thrilling to see either one arrive ahead of schedule, staring down Hikaru and anyone else in their path.
Roughly the equivalent of Roger Federer (or whoever is good at tennis these days) skipping Wimbledon and showing up at your local courts.
Thanks a lot, K-Pop Demon Hunters.