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In this juvenile fixated ages there is a lot of focus on the very, very young players, in fact just kids. 14 years old Chinese girl Hou has just qualified for the GM-title as the youngest woman/girl ever. And now every bodies eyes are on 12 years old Nyznykh from Ukraine, who could happen to break Karjakins record of being the youngest GM ever (12 years and 8 months).
But I would, at least for a change, like to shift the focus:
Which player has at the OLDEST age qualified for the GM-title in a regular way? Meaning: NOT by being awarded a honorary title, NOT by winning the Senior-WCh, and NOT by getting some older results to count because of the newer, lesser rigid, if not to say too slack, rules.
This is not an easy matter to investigate into. At the Wikipedia they list about 1000 players with the GM-title in 2007, and from the recent FIDE-congress in Dresden you can add some 30 more.
Anyway, the Wikipedia-article lists both year of birth and year of achieving the title. From that your eyes fall upon Vladislav Vorotnikov, who got the title in 2005 at an age of 58. But I am not sure he did not get it on some older results. At least I know he made a GM-norm in Kislovodsk, 1982, where I participated myself.
Then there is my good old chess friend, Leif Øgaard from Norway, who is almost exactly my peer of age (and probably the strongest Norwegian player before Agdestein arrived). He got his title in 2007 at the age of 55. His final GM-norm was in the Norwegian team championship the preceding season. But...his former norms were achieved back in the early 80es. In fact the Norwegians claim that he could have been awarded the title some 25 years earlier, had the rules been less tight at the time.
Congratulations to Leif, I know his chess abilities and he certainly deserves the title. But I still do not think he holds the true record, for which the demands should be stipulated more precisely like this:
The player achieving the GM-title in a regular way, scoring his FIRST norm at the oldest age.
Who is that? I still do not know, but the searching goes on.
You know, this is a subject with also some very personal interest to me as an IM at 56, who believes he still has not peaked :). And if I want to take the record, I should not stage a comeback to soon, should I? And mind you: I have, so far, never scored a norm...
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7 comments:
Well, I am sure you will make the GM title. Best of luck with your venture to make history!! And keep up the blog!!
Of course the oldest is Jaanis Klovans from Latvia. Soviets didn`t let him play in international tournaments so he scored his title as a man of 63. And it doesn`t matter that he scored it in WCS.
Nikolac, then Yugoslavia got the GM title in 1979, at 47. I vaguely remember there being something about it in one of John Nunns books.
Of course Klovans deserved the GM-title, he even won the WCS several times. But he does not live up to the stipulations I put up.
I do remember Nikolac, and he was in his end-40es when he played and qualified for the GM-title. It could be he holds the record. So far...
This IS a very interesting fact!!!
I am a chess player who desires to reach a master level who has played many years on and off. It is my hope even as an older guy to continue to get better. I am routing for you and I shall brag about the title you receive!
Nikolai Shalnev got his GM title aged 57.
This also interests me. I am 57 and, haviong barely studied and played little for many years, am currently rated 1996. My peak was in 1985 at a british ratiung equivalent to something in the high 2100's. I have no realistic chance of ever becoiming a GM, or even an IM, but I very much hope that the FM title is not out of reach. It would be helpful to know if anyonje before me has made a similar large improvement at this kind of age, but it is very difficult to find any information on this subject.
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