Caleb Levitan SA’s youngest chess master

Fourteen-year-old South African chess prodigy Caleb Levitan this week achieved a rating that will make him the newest International Master and the youngest in South Africa to attain this title within the accepted world norms-based system.

What’s more, since January, Caleb has officially been ranked the best active chess player in South Africa.

Although he has the rating of an International Master, he’s not formally recognised as such until the International Chess Federation, FIDE, meets at its annual congress at the end of June, when it will formally ratify his title.

Caleb accomplished this massive achievement during the 18 rounds he played in the Kup Vojvodine 2025 Finale held in Serbia over the last month (April-May). It took attaining a rating of more than 2 400 after his 16th match to become International Master Elect, which means he simply awaits FIDE to recognise his rank officially. He is the youngest South African to reach this position by following through FIDE-acknowledged international chess requirements.

“In the past, the majority of South Africans were able to earn the title of International Master by performing exceptionally well in a chess competition with other talented African players,” says his father, Shaun Levitan.

The route that Caleb took to his international masters title has been described by many as the more challenging and difficult route.

To become an International Master according to FIDE requirements, a player must have three outstanding chess performances. Though there are rigorous guidelines as to what qualifies as one of those performances, known as “IM norms”, Caleb had already met the requirements to become an International Master before this tournament, but just needed his live rating to surpass 2 400.

Shaun told the SA Jewish Report that Caleb was shocked at achieving this goal. “We didn’t expect that he would achieve it on this trip because it’s quite a big jump in rating while playing against highly skilled opponents,” he said. At the beginning of the Kup Vojvodine 2025 Finale, Caleb had a rating of 2 327, and he exceeded 2 400 during the tournament.

Shaun says Caleb is the youngest South African to cross a 2 400 rating in a live tournament. The highest rating by a South African is 2 413, held by International Master Henry Steel. Steel received this title when he was 25 years old in 2014.

In 2023, when Caleb was 12 years old, he earned the FIDE Master title from the World Chess Federation when his rating surpassed 2 100. Even then, he was one of the youngest South Africans ever to hold this honour.

In September 2024, he became the youngest champion to represent South Africa at the Chess Olympiad, which is regarded as the “World Cup of chess”. As the top active player, Caleb also holds second place in both the Top 10 Open and Junior Open South African chess ratings.

Caleb and his twin brother, Judah, started playing chess at the age of six, after being taught by their father, and though Judah has gone on to achieve his own success, Caleb is making waves at international level. Judah holds the fourth highest rating in the South African Junior Chess player category for players under the age of 20.

The chess journeys of both boys are far from over. Caleb’s next big goal is to become a Grandmaster. The only other South African to hold this title is Kenny Solomon, who took this title when he was 35 years old in 2014. To become a Grandmaster, a player has to obtain three Grandmaster norms, proving a high degree of chess proficiency and reaching a minimum FIDE rating of 2 500. Alternatively, you can challenge and beat Grandmasters with a 2 600 or higher rating.

“That last 100 is way harder than anything that came before it,” Shaun says. “You must beat incredibly strong people. You can’t lose to anyone lower rated. It’s difficult to find tournaments that will get you that rating gain.

“So it’s a big mountain to climb for the last 100. It’s not as simple as saying that if he works hard, he can do it this year. Our goal would be to go for it in the next two or three years.” Once this goal has been realised in the projected timeframe, not only will Caleb be the second South African Grandmaster, but he will be the youngest South African Grandmaster to date.

Judah also had an extremely successful week, being given a board prize for incredible performance for his team. “He was undefeated, he won all his games, he only drew one. It was just a great tournament overall. They both did well,” Shaun says.

“They both got big rating gains. Caleb got the title, and Judah hopefully less than 40 points short of his new title of FIDE Master,” said Shaun. Judah is hoping to realise this goal by the end of 2025.

While becoming world chess champions, the two still have to keep up to date with school work. That’s the compromise, you know, school and chess,” Shaun says. “If they could take off school full-time and dedicate themselves to chess, which their peers around the world largely do, they would, but they haven’t.” Since the academic standard in South Africa is higher than in other parts of the world, the boys remain enrolled in school and are constantly working on both chess and their academic careers.