Twelve-year-old Abhimanyu Mishra is now the world’s youngest chess grandmaster.
Abhimanyu from New Jersey, USA, broke Sergey Karjakin’s 19-year-old record with a third norm in Budapest on Wednesday.
Karjakin, who was a world championship challenger to Magnus Carlsen in 2016, had earned his GM title at 12 years, 7 months.
Karjakin told Chess.com:
“Yes, I am a little sad that I lost the record, I don’t want to lie, but at the same time I can only congratulate him and it’s no problem. I hope that he will go on to become one of the top chess players and it will be just a nice start to his big career. I wish him all the best.”
For a grandmaster title, a chess player must score three GM norms and touch an Elo rating of 2500 and above. The norms can be awarded only in tournaments where at least 50% of the opponents are titleholders, and at least one-third of them GMs.
Abhimanyu has been breaking chess records since the age of 7.
He is the United States Chess Federation’s youngest Expert, the youngest National Master as and also the youngest ever International Master.
Abhimanyu’s coach, GM Arun Prasad, told Chess.com:
“My congratulations to Abhi for this great achievement. He fully deserves this success, as I have seen all of his hard work firsthand. His father also deserves applause for all of the sacrifices he has made for Abhi to reach this milestone. Personally, this is a big moment to see my student become a GM!”
Only five players in history of chess have managed to get the title before their 13th birthday.
