CHENNAI: The youngest Grandmaster in chess a feat held by Russian Sergey Karjakin for almost 19 years — was broken by Abhimanyu Mishra on Wednesday night. The American boy, with Indian roots, rewrote that record at 12 years, 4 months and 25 days.
Karjakin had achieved that distinction in August 2002 at the age of 12 year and 7 months. Abhimanyu defeated Indian GM Leon Mendonca in the penultimate round of Vezerkepzo GM tournament in Budapest to bag his third and final GM norm and rewrite the record books.
“The match against Leon was tough but a mistake from his end was all that I needed to cross the landmark. I feel just relieved and happy to be able to achieve this feat,” Abhimanyu told TOI moments after his victory.
The covid-19 pandemic meant that Abhimanyu, who also holds the record for being the youngest International Master at 10 years 9 months and 3 days, had not played any over-the-board events for many months. With the situation slowly getting back to normal, Abhimanyu began to feature in a few tournaments and his ELO ratings crossed 2400 in March this year.
His father Hemant, who works as a software engineer in New Jersey, made the bold move of heading to Europe and playing tournaments in a bid to break Karjakin’s record.
“We knew there was a chance for us to make the three norms in tournaments in Europe. We had a one-way ticket and reached Budapest in the first week of April to play back-to-back tournaments. It was a dream which me, my wife Swati and Abhimanyu shared and there are no words to describe the feeling,” Hemant told TOI.
With about 100 ELO points and three GM norms needed to become a Grandmaster, Abhimanyu was aware that the journey was going to be tedious. He registered his first GM norm at the Vezerkepzo GM event in April. In May, Abhimanyu got his second GM norm at the First Saturday GM round robin tournament.
Karjakin had achieved that distinction in August 2002 at the age of 12 year and 7 months. Abhimanyu defeated Indian GM Leon Mendonca in the penultimate round of Vezerkepzo GM tournament in Budapest to bag his third and final GM norm and rewrite the record books.
“The match against Leon was tough but a mistake from his end was all that I needed to cross the landmark. I feel just relieved and happy to be able to achieve this feat,” Abhimanyu told TOI moments after his victory.
The covid-19 pandemic meant that Abhimanyu, who also holds the record for being the youngest International Master at 10 years 9 months and 3 days, had not played any over-the-board events for many months. With the situation slowly getting back to normal, Abhimanyu began to feature in a few tournaments and his ELO ratings crossed 2400 in March this year.
His father Hemant, who works as a software engineer in New Jersey, made the bold move of heading to Europe and playing tournaments in a bid to break Karjakin’s record.
“We knew there was a chance for us to make the three norms in tournaments in Europe. We had a one-way ticket and reached Budapest in the first week of April to play back-to-back tournaments. It was a dream which me, my wife Swati and Abhimanyu shared and there are no words to describe the feeling,” Hemant told TOI.
With about 100 ELO points and three GM norms needed to become a Grandmaster, Abhimanyu was aware that the journey was going to be tedious. He registered his first GM norm at the Vezerkepzo GM event in April. In May, Abhimanyu got his second GM norm at the First Saturday GM round robin tournament.
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