{"id":434,"date":"2021-02-19T20:09:13","date_gmt":"2021-02-19T20:09:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chessquestions.com\/?p=434"},"modified":"2021-02-19T20:09:13","modified_gmt":"2021-02-19T20:09:13","slug":"chess-players-age","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chessquestions.com\/chess-players-age\/","title":{"rendered":"(Evidence) How The Best Chess Players are Getting Younger"},"content":{"rendered":"
⭐⭐⭐ Take 4 minutes to read and improve your chess game ➡️ : This article was first published on, and is Copyright of Chessquestions.com<\/p>\n
We see young prodigies in chess all the time. Recently we have seen the youngest grandmaster<\/a> title achieved in 20 years by a 12 year old missing out on the ‘youngest grandmaster’ title by just 17 days, but how old are the best chess players?<\/p>\n\n\n\n The best chess players perform at their peak between the ages of 35-45 according to a study using 24,000 games played between 1980 and 2014 by world champions. However, the study also suggests that we may be seeing this age bracket decrease for players born more recently.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n So are we about to see the very best performers in chess become younger and younger and the average age of grandmasters come down too?<\/p>\n\n\n\n The average age<\/a> of the current top 100 chess grandmasters is 32.9 years. The eldest being #60 Boris Gelfand at 53, the youngest current #17 Alireza Firouzja at just 18 years of age in 2021. Just 31 of the Top 100 fall between the ages of 35-45.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Alongside Alireza Firouzja, the only other teenager is #59 on the list of top 100 Grandmasters, Andrey Espipenko who is 19 at the time of writing. There are no younger players in the Top 100.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I looked at the top 10 players and found they averaged 32.6 years of age, so pretty close to the overall top 100 at 32.9, but whilst doing this my curiosity got the better of me based on the slight difference between the top 10 and top 100, with the younger average coming out for the top players.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So I wanted to check the top 10, top 20 etc etc and see if the age increased as I went along.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is not surprising to find that in terms of improvement of chess<\/a> skills and playing ability the quickest improvement would be up to and including the age of 20. And the overall ability to find higher percentages of optimal moves has increased generally over time, but far more in the groups of younger players.<\/p>\n\n\n\nWhat is the Average age for Chess Grandmasters?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Age Group<\/th> Number<\/th><\/tr><\/thead> Under 20<\/td> 2<\/td><\/tr> Under 35<\/td> 60<\/td><\/tr> 35-45<\/td> 31<\/td><\/tr> Over 45<\/td> 9<\/td><\/tr> Over 50<\/td> 3<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n Position<\/th> Av Age<\/th> Position<\/th> Av Age<\/th><\/tr><\/thead> Top 10<\/td> 32.6<\/td> 1-10<\/td> 32.6<\/td><\/tr> Top 20<\/td> 32.6<\/td> 11-20<\/td> 32.6<\/td><\/tr> Top 30<\/td> 32.7<\/td> 21-30<\/td> 33.1<\/td><\/tr> Top 40<\/td> 32.3<\/td> 31-40<\/td> 31<\/td><\/tr> Top 50<\/td> 32.7<\/td> 41-50<\/td> 34.6<\/td><\/tr> Bottom 50 [of 100]<\/td> 33.1<\/td> 51-60<\/td> 33.5<\/td><\/tr> Bottom 40<\/td> 33.1<\/td> 61-70<\/td> 30.8<\/td><\/tr> Bottom 30<\/td> 33.8<\/td> 71-80<\/td> 35.9<\/td><\/tr> Bottom 20<\/td> 32.8<\/td> 81-90<\/td> 35.2<\/td><\/tr> Bottom 10<\/td> 30.5<\/td> 91-100<\/td> 30.5<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n The Early Years see the Quickest Advancement in Talent and Progress<\/h3>\n\n\n\n