Chess: Ethan Pang, nine, beats three grandmasters but misses 2300 rating | Chess

Ethan Pang, the nine-year-old London schoolboy who set a new world record in June by becoming the youngest ever to achieve a master rating of 2200 metres, is once again in the record books.

Pang, who was playing in the Vezerkepto IM tournament in Budapest, defeated three grandmasters in a row between rounds two and five. It is true that the defeated trio were past their prime and had a rating below 2400 compared to the normal GM level of 2500, but they all had decades of experience at a high level.

The Slovak Milan Pacher (33) was the first to act in the second round. He got into a bad endgame and lost a pawn on move 23, but Pang managed to cash in this pawn effortlessly 18 moves later.

Next in round four was Hungary’s Attila Czebe, 48, whose passive 32…Kh8? (f5!) was answered by Pang’s powerful kingside attack, punctuated by 35 c5! and 36 d5! This was the most impressive game of the three.

In the fifth round, 54-year-old Hungarian Zoltan Varga misjudged his middlegame tactics and resigned on move 23, when he was two pawns down, without any compensation.

Three victories against GMs in one classical tournament by an under-10 is a unique achievement. The nearest precedent was in Tashkent 2014 when current world number 6 Nodirbek Abdusattorov, then also nine years old, defeated two strong GMs, rated 2600 and 2495.

After five rounds (out of 11), Pang had four points and looked set to break the age record of Argentine prodigy Faustino Oro, who reached a rating of 2300 and thus qualified for a Fide Master (FM) title. Pang’s Fide rating had risen to 2292, so a win against India’s Alana Kolagatia in their postponed third-round match would suffice.

It was a golden opportunity, but unfortunately the schoolboy missed it. It came down to a single mistake on move 14, where a central pawn shot could have won material, given +2 to Stockfish and most likely led to victory and Oro’s world record.

Pang’s iconic tournament ended on a dismal note with two losses, one of which was to top seed and first prize winner, 2412-rated GM Valeriy Neverov of Ukraine. Pang’s total was 4.5/8, but he was then forced to miss the final two rounds and withdraw on Tuesday so he could fly back to London with his father in time for the new term at Westminster Under School on Wednesday.

All games of Vezerkepto Budapest can be watched live on chess-results.com.

Pang is now nine years and five months old, and Oro’s 2300/FM age record was only aged by a month, so there will be no other chance to break the Argentinian boy’s milestone. However, Javokhir Sindarov, the second fastest at 2300 after Oro, only reached the rating at 10 years and two months. Pang has eight months left to become the second youngest 2300 ever.

Pang said he wants to develop his skills in the coming year to compete in more tournaments against highly ranked opponents. His long-term goal is to be among the world’s best. His chess heroes are Mikhail Tal, for his aggressive and creative style, and Hikaru Nakamura. “It’s inspiring to watch him play. The way he manipulates his knights is like a magician.”

Pang’s favorite openings are the “tricky” Scotch Game and the countering Sicilian. He advises ambitious juniors to join an adult chess club and participate in various tournaments. Outside of chess, his main interest is music and he likes to play the violin.

Fide’s September 2024 age rankings show England’s Pang and Bodhana Sivanandan as the top two nine-year-olds in the world, with England’s Kushal Jakhria and Scotland’s Louis Cheng in fourth and fifth place. Sivanandan will be in action next week, also in Budapest, when she becomes the youngest person to represent England in a game or sport at the Fide Women’s Olympiad.