Chess Savant is a phenomenal player with exceptional abilities to defeat opponents regardless of age.

One may get confused between a prodigy and a savant because both played exceptionally like a grandmaster.

But here is the twist, well one can think of savant as an inner hidden mental power that was hiding but later activated by the individual.

It is regardless of age, unlike prodigies with a natural gift to play chess like a grandmaster from a very young age.

A Chess Savant is more mysterious than prodigies and scientists won’t be able to clarify their phenomenal behavior. The root cause of becoming a savant is still unknown.

Thus, let’s dive into this topic to get insights to understand the very meaning of a chess savant. 

Who or What is a Chess Savant?

A chess savant is a person who is exceptionally talented and has exceptional memory to defeat experienced adult players without sweating a drop.

They are seated above the prodigies with exceptional abilities. Although scientists are very skeptical towards the idea of such constructive inbuild memory inside a chess savant, that is the very reason for becoming an undisputed and fierce chess champion over others.

Regardless of this, on the world stage, they have been performing without any question extraordinarily.

In all this, every Chess Savant has a specific feature in common: exquisite memory power, which sets them apart from the rest of the crowd. 

One can take the greatest examples of all time in the history of heavyweight chess champions. For instance, Grandmasters like Bobby Fisher or Robert James Fischer.

Hall of Famers of World chess and U.S. chess. He achieved the title of U.S. Open at a very young age with his exceptional chess skills.  

 In addition, the next section of this article will briefly discuss the young chess savant or prodigy Bobby Fischer. 

Chess Savant & World Chess Champion: Bobby Fischer or RJ Fischer

A USA-born child who later accepted the citizenship of Iceland had never dreamed of becoming a chess savant at a very young age. Born in 1943, on March 9th, and at 14, he became a world champion in chess. 

With a remarkable score of 11-0 in the 1964 match, he decimated his opponent like a mini chess grandmaster.

This gives the rest of the world a strong message that a chess savant or prodigy has been born and is coming to get the title of world grandmaster. 

At that time, he scored the perfect unbelievable score for qualifying in the 1972 World Chess Championship.

He played several intermediate matches with renowned chess grandmasters at his time,  for instance, Mark Taimanov, Bent Larsen, and Tigran Petrosian.

He gives a shameful defeating score to his opponents of 6-0. Well, he also played as a crucial Cold War veteran chess grandmaster who won against a USSR chess grandmaster, Boris Spassky in Reykjavik, Iceland.

But in a match with another Russian master Anatoly Karpov, he refused to play and defend the title due to some dispute with FIDE in the 1972 Grandmaster championship, and by default, Mr. Karpov was declared the winner.

Later on, Fisher’s contribution to the chess world was remarkable—one of the best contributions he made in writing a book based on his memorable games of chess.

The title of the book was “My 60 Memorable Games”. Other than this he writes numerous books to inspire and teach young minds. Such exceptional chess skills are hard to find these days. 

Top 4 Modern-Day Chess Savants With Titled Chess Masters

1. GM Anand Viswanathan 

He is the first chess grandmaster of India in the FIDE World Chess Championship. He represents the guiding light source for the youngsters of India.

He was born in 1969, on 11 December, and became 5 times world chess champion with all-time highest FIDE chess ranking.

Unquestionably he is one of the greatest chess players ever born in the 20th century in India and became a guiding star for the upcoming raw and young talents.

His exceptional ability to come out from difficult moves and then strategically counterattack makes him a chess savant and a modern-day chess master.

2. GM Magnus Carlsen

A Norwegian Chess Prodigy or Chess Savant has taken the world by storm with exceptional chess skills & and exceptional memory.

Magnus Carlsen is considered the 21st-century Bobby Fisher in the world of chess. Born in 1990, on 3rd November, he held 5 5-time winning records as a world chess champion and world rapid chess champion.

Also, he held a seven-time winning streak as world blitz chess champion and world chess cup champion.

All of his winning streaks make him undoubtedly, more than a chess savant but a chess god. He holds the rank of number 1 in the FIDE world chess ranking.

He has a deep impact on the world of chess which can’t be forgotten. His deep thinking analysis makes him invulnerable and allows him to come out from any complex situation. 

3. GM Gukesh Dommaraju 

A chess prodigy from India, or a chess savant who surpasses Anand Viswanathan and becomes the 3rd and only youngest chess grandmaster in the world.

He was born in 2006 on May 29th, at the age of seven he started to learn chess, and within a limited period, he became the world youth chess champion in 2018 under 12.

His exceptional chess skills are remarkable, making him the quickest tactician in any position. Also, he qualified for the international Chess masters and became the second-youngest chess master by surpassing GM Sergey Karjakin by 12 years, 7 months, and 17 days.

But his winning streak did not stop there, in October 2022 he did the impossible and defeated the most undisputed champion of all at a very young age, Magnus Carlsen, this is a fight that will be written in history in the golden letters where a young boy from India defeat all-time high no.1 chess grandmaster Magnus Carlsen.

Finally, he squared it off for GM Anand Viswanathan, who was defeated by Magnus Carlsen. 

4. GM Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa

India is the birthplace of chess grandmasters and chess prodigies, it’s unbelievable, but GM RP is living proof.

He was born on 10th August 2005, currently, he is 18 years old. GM R Praggnanandhaa is a chess prodigy and a chess savant who earned the title of international chess grandmaster at the age of 10 and the title of chess grandmaster at the age of 12 and he was the youngest at that time.

He won the World Youth Chess Championship at a very young age under 8 category. From there he completed his journey becoming one of the youngest chess grandmasters in the world. 

How To Find Out If You Are A Chess Savant? Take These 3 Tests

There are over a million people who can play average chess, but among those can become a chess grandmaster.

The percentage among them is about 5% out of 95%. About 3% of them are unaware of their hidden talent for playing chess.

Well, 3% of them have the possibility of having the hidden talent of becoming a chess genius or in short, a Chess savant.

So, if you want to know that you are coming under those 3% of them then follow these 3 tests to identify your hidden chess savant.

1. Test 1: Exceptional Memory Through GK

First test the memory, a chess savant has an exceptional memory, one can take a GK test because it’s scientifically considered that GK helps to identify the IQ level of a person due to its association with memory.

Take 45 GK questions from online or buy an Atlas Book and ask yourself 45 questions. Thus, if you answered atleast 30 out of 45 questions then it is considered that you may have an IQ of 150+ and it also means you have an exceptional memory.

2. Test 2: Puzzle Solving Under 45 Minutes

Puzzle Solving is another exceptional skill that is required to solve the difficult strategic moves in chess. A chess savant has exceptional abilities for quick pattern recognition and can remember 100 patterns in their head.

Therefore take 45 minutes and solve atleast 60 puzzles, if you can solve it in under 45 minutes that could be a sign that you are a chess savant. 

3. Test 3: Solve Rubiks Cube in 1 min

There’s a saying that those who can solve a Rubik’s cube in 1 minute have the ability for exceptional concentration and pattern recognition.

A Rubik’s cube may seem like a simple toy but it’s an extremely complex colour formations toy. Solving this toy means one may have an incredible IQ. 

Conclusion 

The above 3 tests are designed to test that the person has the Strategic thinking abilities of a chess savant.

Although there are a lot of other factors considered to determine a chess savant. To understand more about chess then read this article that chess is considered a game or a sport.

However, a chess savant is an extremely talented person, he/she can defeat any player no matter which age group their opponent belongs.

But cautions some of them to developmental disabilities while getting too deep with chess and there are a lot of prime examples available.

Chess is a game that takes one mind to a state of deep thinking and extreme level of concentration and a chess savant is a perfect example of that chaos. Know more about chess if one is confused about chess as a game or sport.

Last Updated on May 7, 2024 by Anuja.V