[boringg]

Seems like its not that big of an accomplishment relative to the way the headline makes it (obviously a big personal accomplishment). I figure 18 year old chess should have the mental abilities and maybe experience at that point to be able to rise to the top...

[zanellato19]

HAHAHA Only an HN comment could call the youngest person ever to do something would be said to "not that big of an accomplishment". How would you change that headline?

[smus]

Not nearly as big of an accomplishment as that guy reducing latency by 3.7% on the legacy microservice at work

[griomnib]

Hey now, that microservice happens to violate data protection law in 40 jurisdictions per second, that’s basically a criminal mastermind.

[dtquad]

To really put it in perspective right now is the hardest and most competitive chess era in history thanks to computer-aided practice and international popularity.

[chatmasta]

It’s not the most competitive world championship though, since Magnus opted out of playing it. If previous champions had similarly opted out of defending their championship at the age of 30 then maybe the average age of champions would have trended downward and this wouldn’t have been the first 18 year old champion.

[borski]

He’s only been playing chess for 11 years. That’s very impressive.

[robertlagrant]

18 is young. It's impressive.

[jstanley]

You think materially everyone over the age of 18 who plays chess ought to be good enough to be world champion?

[nottorp]

... but you can infer from the HN post title that it's unusual.

[boringg]

Agreed. I think all the people who don't like my take i offer this. Blasting a headline like that typically implies like a 13-14 year old. This is impressive but its not some massive upset - 18 is a grown adult for all intents and purposes (brain still developing true…)

[willy_k]

No one said very young. Youngest is a comparison, and having 6 years on the previous youngest is massively impressive.

[boringg]

Is it though? You can play so many more games now with computational aid and speed up your learning rates.

I'm impressed but this isn't the same as coming from another era -- this feels like technology pushing the learning rate for younger people.

[monooso]

Gukesh rarely plays online (he prefers OTB), and only began using computers for opening prep four years ago.

Does that make his achievement suitably impressive for you?

[roughly]

All intents and purposes not requiring the brain, then. Which one is chess?

The only people who consider 18 year olds fully grown adults are 18 year olds.