A host of prodigies and rising chess stars are set to take part in the 2026 edition of the FIDE World Team Rapid and Blitz Chess Championship in Hong Kong this June. While some have already made their mark in international events, for many emerging talents, the Hong Kong event will be a chance to make their mark on a global chess stage.
FIDE and ISCF declared 2026 the Year of Chess in Education, with a focus on integrating chess into school curricula and supporting student development. Hong Kong will be a live version of that idea, where young players who grew up through schools, clubs, academies, and online training now compete on the same stage as chess grandees such as Carlsen, Anand, Ding Liren, Hou Yifan, and Ju Wenjun.
In his address to the Hong Kong China Chess Federation, FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich spoke about more youth and school chess, more rated local tournaments, and Hong Kong’s wider ambition as an Asian chess hub. For a city aiming to strengthen its chess culture, the fast-paced World Team Rapid and Blitz Chess Championship is a chance to link Hong Kong with the next generation of Asian and world chess players.
Hong Kong is also the right city to showcase the shift of chess energy towards Asia. In recent years, India, Uzbekistan, China, and Kazakhstan have all won major medals and trophies, often led by young players. The fourth edition of the WRB Teams will test that strength again.
Many of the players taking part in this year’s event – although in their early 20s – are already known to the wider chess world (Praggnanandhaa R, Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Javokhir Sindarov, Arjun Erigaisi, Nihal Sarin, and Raunak Sadhwani, to name a few). But this is not a story of “genius children”; rather, it is about the painstaking hard work, training system, coaches, and competition from an early age that each player aiming for the top has to pass. Hong Kong is one of those arenas where young stars will test themselves against the best, as one of the fastest team events on the planet becomes a classroom without walls.
Here are some of the young players to watch in Hong Kong:
Faustino Oro (born in 2013)
All eyes in Hong Kong will be on the second-youngest player to ever achieve the title of Grandmaster – Faustino Oro. Born in Argentina in 2013, he has become one of the fastest-rising players the chess world has ever seen, breaking records, defeating top world players, and setting up what could become a major career.
In Hong Kong, Oro will be playing for Chess United, alongside former World Champion Viswanathan Anand and one of the top women players in the world, Humpy Koneru, who shaped the game before the Argentinian was even born.
Roman Shogdzhiev (born in 2015)
Roman Shogdzhiev is the youngest player in the tournament. Born in 2015, he became the youngest International Master in history in 2025.
While he might not be that well known in the wider circles, Shogdzhiev is not a novice among GMs, having defeated five of them at the 2023 WRB when he was just eight. That same year he was the World Under-8 Champion.
In Hong Kong, he gives Chess United another youth angle beside Oro.
Volodar Murzin (born in 2006)
Many will argue that Volodar Murzin is no longer a “rising star” but an established elite player, already having a world championship title under his belt. He won the World Rapid championship in New York in 2024, with an unbeaten record of seven wins and six draws. Still not even 20, he has more to achieve, and Hong Kong will be one of the places to do that.
Murzin will be playing for Hexamind, one of the strongest teams in the competition.
Pranav V (born in 2006)
Pranav Venkatesh began playing chess at six and has since grown to one of India’s main junior players. In recent years he won several strong opens, capping it with a victory at the 2025 World Junior Championship with 9/11, where he took the title without a single defeat.
Pranav comes to Hong Kong as part of a large Indian contingent of very strong players who have been dominating top events in recent years. He will be playing for the defending rapid team champions, Team MGD1.
Leon Luke Mendonca (born in 2006)
Having earned his GM title in 2021, Mendonca’s biggest success to date was the 2024 victory at the Tata Steel Challengers, which gave him a place in the 2025 Masters.
He is part of Team MGD1 with other Indian stars – Pranav, Arjun and Nihal. That gives the team one of the clearest youth angles in Hong Kong, with several Indian players who came through the post-Anand chess boom.
Denis Lazavik (born in 2006)
Lazavik earned his IM title in 2021 and his GM title in 2022. He participated in two youth Olympiads and also took part in the 2022 WRB where he finished 16th in the Blitz.
In August 2025, he started to show his real flair, winning the Masters tournament at the 31st Abu Dhabi International Chess Festival with a score of 7/9. Earlier this year he came third in the Speed Chess Championship, after losing to Carlsen in the semifinals and beating Nakamura in the consolation match. In April he won the Karpov International Chess Tournament with 6/9.
He plays for Endgame.AI, alongside seasoned heavyweights Hans Niemann, Leinier Dominguez, Amin Tabatabaei, and Alexey Sarana. For a rapid and blitz team tournament, Lazavik is especially relevant because his reputation is tied closely to speed chess and online elite events.
Daniel Dardha (born in 2005)
Daniel Dardha is Belgium’s leading young player. The Belgian champion at the age of just 13, and the youngest ever Belgian GM (at 15), Dardha has appeared in several prominent events, playing well on youth/prodigy boards.
In Hong Kong he will be playing for Chessnut Nova with Raunak, Maurizzi, and Lu Miaoyi. That team has one of the clearest “future of chess” lineups in the event, with young players from several national schools.
Marc’Andria Maurizzi (born in 2007)
The youngest Frenchman ever to become GM, Marc’Andria Maurizzi is the winner of the 2023 World Junior Championship and a participant of many strong chess tournaments in recent years. In 2025 he attracted international attention twice: after triumphing in the Djerba Masters with 7.5/9 and, in August that year, winning the French National Championship.
He plays for Chessnut Nova. He brings a Western European junior champion thread into a field otherwise dominated, among the youth, by India, Uzbekistan, China, and Kazakhstan.
Kazybek Nogerbek (born in 2004)
A representative of the new chess wave from Kazakhstan, Nogerbek is the 2024 World Junior Chess Champion. With a peak FIDE rating of 2544, he is ranked among Kazakhstan’s top players and has scored against elite players in international events.
He will be playing for Kazchess, alongside elite veterans such as Alexander Grischuk and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov.
Pranesh M (born in 2006)
Pranesh Munirethinam became India’s 79th grandmaster after winning the Rilton Cup in Stockholm in 2023. With appearances in several strong tournaments – including a victory at the 2025 Chennai Grand Masters Challengers – he has confirmed himself as a strong and steady player, deserving to stand shoulder to shoulder with his more senior compatriots.
He plays for Chessgurukul, a team built around the wider influence of R.B. Ramesh and Indian training culture around the Chennai academy, which produced Praggnanandhaa, Chithambaram, Karthikeyan Murali, among others. The team is not just a collection of strong players but a living example of a dedicated training model taking children from beginner level to elite players.
Ilamparthi A.R. (born in 2009)
Ilamparthi A.R. is one of the younger Indian grandmasters in Hong Kong. Born in Chennai in 2009, he has been visible on the Indian youth circuit for years.
In 2019, when he was nine years old and rated just 1920, he defeated GM Harsha Bharathakoti in the opening round of the Delhi GM International. That was his first win over a GM and a sign of his strength.
His breakthrough on the world youth stage happened in 2022 when he won the Under-14 World Youth Championship, earning an IM norm. In late 2025 he became the 90th Indian to achieve the Grandmaster title.
He plays for the team of Chess Thulir.
Lu Miaoyi (born in 2010)
Lu Miaoyi is one of the strongest girls in world chess at the moment. She is a Chinese IM and WGM, qualifying for the IM title at 14. Her biggest result so far came in May 2024, when she won the Chinese Women’s Championship in Xinhua, Jiangsu. She tied for first on 9/11 with Ni Shiqun, then captured the title in a blitz playoff. Her mother, WGM Xu Yuanyuan, had won the same title 21 years earlier.
She plays for Chessnut Nova, captained by Indian GM Swapnil S. Dhopade.
Alua Nurman (born in 2007)
Alua Nurman, IM and WGM from Kazakhstan, will arrive in Hong Kong as one of the strongest young players in the field.
She already has serious experience, having helped her national squad win silver at the 2023 Women’s World Team and at the 2024 Women’s Chess Olympiad. In 2025 she won the Asian Women’s Blitz Championship.
In Hong Kong, she plays for Barys, giving the event another strong Kazakh youth story beyond Kazybek Nogerbek and Kazchess.
Afruza Khamdamova (born in 2009)
Khamdamova is one of Uzbekistan’s strongest female players and one of the symbols of the country’s chess rise. A two-time winner of the World Youth Championship (in the U-14 category in 2023 and the U-16 in 2024), she is a WGM and one of the standout performers at the 2024 World Rapid in New York.
In Hong Kong she will be playing for team Uzbekistan, alongside Abdusattorov and Sindarov, the country’s two strongest players.
Umida Omonova (born in 2006)
Another strong prodigy from Uzbekistan, Umida Omonova, has recently been approved for her Women GM title, and she has a solid rating of around 2300 points in all three formats.
She first rose to international prominence at the 2025 FIDE Women’s World Cup when she eliminated France’s Sophie Milliet in a rapid and blitz tiebreak. This experience will definitely be of help in Hong Kong, as her team, led by Abdusattorov and Sindarov, has strong chances to reach the top.
Written by Milan Dinic
Photos: Michal Walusza, Rafal Oleksiewicz, Lennart Ootes, Anna Shtourman and ChessBase India
