Indian-origin American Abhimanyu Mishra has become the youngest-ever chess Grandmaster in the world. The 12-year-old boy from New Jersey in United States became a GM from International Master, having crossed the required 2500 Elo rating barrier, chess.com website said.
On August 12, 2002, Karjakin secured the Grandmaster title at the age of 12 years and 7 months. Abhimanyu, born on February 5, 2009, secured the highest title in chess by defeating 15-year-old Indian GM Leon Luke Mendonca with the black piece, according to a Chess.com statement.
"Somehow I am quite philosophical about this because I felt like it has been almost 20 years and it is really too much! It had to be broken. Sooner or later I was sure that it would happen. I was completely sure that one of the Indian guys would do it much earlier. Somehow I was very lucky that it didn't happen," Karjakin was quoted as saying by Chess.com.
Abhimanyu was just two-and-a-half years old when his father Hemant, who works in data management, introduced him to chess. By five, he was beating his father and competing in local tournaments, where he started defeating players as old as his father. Another coach Arun Prasad remembers another incident. “He was just nine when he was pitted against a veteran 70-year-old opponent. He beat him in no time. I thought I was watching history in the making. I soon realised he’s not normal – in a great way. He remembers everything he sees. He remembers moves from games in 2014 and 2015. His mind absorbs everything.”
“Abhimanyu has worked hard all these years for this. He and his father have been in Budapest for the last three months as Abhimanyu wanted to compete in the chess circuit there to earn the remaining GM norms and becoming the youngest GM in the world is the result of his passion. It has been tough for the family as my husband and Abhimanyu are mostly travelling while I stay with my younger daughter, but this reward is bigger than anything,” Abhimanyu’s mother Swati Sharma said from New Jersey.
Abhimanyu is in an elite group of the five previous youngest Grandmasters. From Tigran Petrosian (23) to Boris Spassky (18), then Bobby Fischer (15), Judit Polgar (15) and Karjakin, but Karjakin went on to become world champion, which indicates that the 12-year-old’s journey has just begun, and the youngest GM record is just another milestone in his path.