Chess prodigy

The term chess prodigy refers to a young child who possesses an aptitude for the game of chess, that far exceeds what might be expected at their age. Their prodigious talent will often enable them to defeat experienced adult players and even titled chess masters. Some chess prodigies have gone on to become World Chess Champion.
Early chess prodigies.
Early chess prodigies included Paul Morphy (1837–1884) and José Raúl Capablanca (1888–1942), both of whom won matches against strong adult opponents at the age of 12, and Samuel Reshevsky (1911–1992), who was giving simultaneous exhibitions at the age of six. Morphy went on to be unofficial World Champion (before the official title existed), Capablanca became the third World Champion, and Reshevsky—while never attaining the title—was amongst the top few players in the world for many decades.
Arturo Pomar (1931-2016) was another to be labelled a prodigy by chess writers. He played his first international tournament (Madrid 1943) at the age of 11, and went on to become Spain’s first grandmaster.
Youngest to defeat a grandmaster.
There is often widespread attention when a young player defeats a Grandmaster, whether in a standard tournament game or less formal conditions. In 1976, a ten-year-old Nigel Short beat Viktor Korchnoi as a participant in a simultaneous exhibition, the only game Korchnoi lost in the event. David Howell defeated John Nunn in a blitz game at the age of eight. In 2009 Hetul Shah beat GM Nurlan Ibrayev at age of nine years and six months at the Parsvnath Open to become the youngest player to defeat a Grandmaster under standard time controls. This record was broken in 2012 by Awonder Liang when he defeated Larry Kaufman at the Washington International at the age of nine years and 111 days.
List of youngest grandmasters.
Since 1950, when the Grandmaster (GM) title was introduced by FIDE, one measure of chess prodigies is the age at which they gain the GM title. Below are players who have held the record for the youngest grandmaster. The record has been held by Sergey Karjakin since 2002. The age listed is the age at which they qualified for the title. This is not equal to the age at which they officially became grandmasters, because GM titles can only be awarded at FIDE congresses.
All players are listed by their nationality at the time of gaining the title, not their current or later nationality.
This is a list of the players who became Grandmasters before their 15th birthday.