Leonardo Costa (born January 2008) is a German

chess Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves Perfect information, no hidden information and no elements of game of chance, chance. It is played on a square chessboard, board consisting of 64 squares arran ...

International Master FIDE titles are awarded by the international chess governing body FIDE (''Fédération Internationale des Échecs'') for outstanding performance. The highest such title is Grandmaster (GM). Titles generally require a combination of Elo rating and ...

(IM, 2024) who won

German Chess Championship The German Chess Championship has been played since 1861, and determines the national champion. Prior to 1880, three different federations organized chess activities in Germany: the ''Westdeutscher Schachbund'' (WDSB), the ''Norddeutscher Schachbun ...

(2022). He is the youngest German chess champion in all tournament history.

Chess career

Leonardo Costa started playing chess at the age of four and a half. He first played against his father Vincenzo, who was soon no longer a match for him. At the age of six he played for the club ''SK Munich Southeast'' and also won a youth chess cup at this age against 34 children aged up to under 12 years. In June 2017 he became German Youth Chess Champion in age group U10, in June 2019 German Youth Chess Vice Champion in age group U12 and in August 2021 German Youth Chess Champion in age group U14. In December 2021, the commission for competitive sports of the

German Chess Federation The German Chess Federation (, DSB) is the umbrella organization for German chess players. It is a member of the Deutscher Olympischer Sportbund and of FIDE, the World Chess Federation. It has over 90,000 members in over 2500 clubs, making it one ...

decided on special funding for him, with which he should make the leap into the German national chess team and maybe even the top of the world in the long term. After exceeding the

Elo Elo or ELO may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Electric Light Orchestra, a British rock music group ** ''The Electric Light Orchestra'' (album), the group's debut album * ''Elo'', a member magazine for the Tuglas Society Biology * Very-long-c ...

mark of 2300 in September 2021, he received his first

FIDE The International Chess Federation or World Chess Federation, commonly referred to by its French acronym FIDE ( , ), is an international organization based in Switzerland that connects the various national chess federations and acts as the Spor ...

title with the

FIDE Master FIDE titles are awarded by the international chess governing body FIDE (''Fédération Internationale des Échecs'') for outstanding performance. The highest such title is Grandmaster (GM). Titles generally require a combination of Elo rating and ...

. His highest Elo rating was 2393 in December 2021. At the 93rd German Chess Championship in Magdeburg 2022, Costa won, although only placed 24th, in a field with several

and Grandmasters and won the title of German master. This means that he is eligible to participate in the (much higher-ranking) ''German Masters'' in 2023. At the

World Youth Chess Championship The World Youth Chess Championship is a FIDE-organized worldwide chess competition for boys and girls under the age of 8, 10, 12, 14, 16 and 18. History Twelve world champions are crowned every year. Since 2015 (OR 2016), the event has been s ...

in agr group 14 in 2022 in

Mamaia Mamaia () is a resort on the Romanian Black Sea shore and a district of Constanța. Considered to be Romania's most popular resort, Mamaia is situated immediately north-east of Constanța's city center. It has almost no full-time residents, being ...

, he finished 18th after retiring in the last round in a single draw, completely winning; otherwise he would have shared third place. Initially, Nadya Yusupov was his coach; since 2018 this is mainly Michael Prusikin.

Personal life

Costa lives with his parents and a sister in

Neubiberg Neubiberg is a municipality south-east of Munich, Germany, founded in 1912. It is part of the Munich district of Upper Bavaria. It used to have a military airport that was used as a Luftwaffe base in the Third Reich. After the war, it served as a ...

near Munich. According to his own statements, he is a good, but not an outstanding student.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Costa, Leonardo 2008 births Living people Chess players from Munich Chess International Masters German chess players