Abhimanyu Mishra becomes youngest Grandmaster in chess history at 12

Abhimanyu Mishra, an Indian-origin boy, became the world's youngest chess grandmaster on Wednesday, June 30. In Budapest, the 12-year-old from New Jersey earned his third GM norm, having already surpassed the requisite 2500 Elo rating.

An official release stated, "On Wednesday, Mishra won the biggest game of his short but sweet career so far. He defeated the 15-year-old Indian GM Leon Luke Mendonca with the black pieces, securing a performance rating higher than 2600 over nine rounds."

Abhimanyu Mishra becomes the youngest Grandmaster

Mishra dethroned GM Sergey Karjakin, who had held the record for 19 years. Karjakin, a world championship challenger in 2016, achieved grandmaster status on August 12, 2002, at the age of 12 years and seven months. Mishra, who was born on February 5, 2009, took 12 years, four months, and twenty-five days to achieve the greatest chess championship.

Kevin Goh Wei Ming, a champion player from Singapore, while commenting on Mishra's game wrote, "Today could be the day that Karjakin's long standing record as the youngest kid to ever attain the GM title is broken. The 12 year old Abhimanyu Mishra needs to win with Black and its already a good start. A Grunfeld and a big time edge."

Abhimanyu Mishra chess grandmaster

Mishra spent several months in Budapest, Hungary, chasing the title and the record in back-to-back tournaments. He earned both his first and second GM norms there, at the Vezerkepzo event in April and the First Saturday tournament in May 2021, both round-robins involving ten players specifically designed for scoring norms.

He, however, succeed in his final attempt this month. Due to the large number of chess players who stayed in Budapest for such a long time, the organisers devised one final event, this time featuring the Vezerkepzo GM Mix, a Swiss group. Mishra understood that after being invited to the FIDE World Cup in Sochi, this would be his last chance to compete before leaving Hungary.

(with inputs from ANI)

Picture Credit: ANI/Unsplash