Indian American Abhimanyu Mishra becomes the youngest Grandmaster in the world

Twelve-year-old Indian American Abhimanyu Mishra has become the youngest chess grandmaster ever having scored his third GM norm in Budapest on Wednesday. Having already crossed the required 2500 Elo rating barrier, Mishra broke GM Sergey Karjakin’s record that has stood for 19 years. Abhimanyu lives in New Jersey with his mother Swati and father Hemant, a data management professional, who introduced him to chess when he was just two-and-a-half.
While it took Karjakin 12 years and 7 months to secure the grandmaster title in 2002, Mishra took just took 12 years, four months, and 25 days to obtain the gold standard in chess. Mishra scored both his first and second GM norms in Budapest too, at the April Vezerkepzo tournament and the May 2021 First Saturday tournament. Only five players in history managed to get the title before their 13th birthday. On August 12, 2002, Karjakin, a world championship challenger in 2016, secured the grandmaster title at the age of 12 years and seven months. Mishra, born on February 5, 2009, took 12 years, four months, and 25 days to obtain the highest title in chess.
According to a report in Chess.com, Mishra spent several months in Budapest, Hungary, playing back-to-back tournaments, chasing the title and the record. He scored both his first and second GM norms there, at the April Vezerkepzo tournament and the May 2021 First Saturday tournament, both round-robins of 10 players specially set up for scoring norms.
“He couldn't immediately follow it up in his next three tournaments in the Hungarian capital, which basically started every two weeks: the May and June Vezerkepzo and the June First Saturday round-robins, held in the same playing hall.
“However, in his final attempt this month, he succeeded. As several chess players stayed in Budapest for this long period, the organisers created one last event, this time a Swiss group called the Vezerkepzo GM Mix. Having been invited to the FIDE World Cup in Sochi, Mishra knew this was going to be his last chance before leaving Hungary.”