Xtra Time Web Desk: Indian origin boy Abhimanyu Mishra created history on Wednesday by becoming the youngest chess grandmaster in history. The 12 year old from New Jersey achieved the feat by claiming his third GM norm after beating Indian GM Leon Mendonca in the penultimate round of Vezerkepzo GM tournament in Budapest. He has already crossed the required 2500 Elo rating barrier.
Young Abhimanyu, who has his roots in India, broke the record previously held by Russian grandmaster Sergey Karjakin. Abhimany achieved the feat at 12 years, 4 months and 25 days. Karkajin, who held the record for 19 years became a GM when he was 12 years and 7 months.
“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,” stated an official release on Chess.com.
Son of a software engineer, Abhimanyu spent several months in Budapest, playing back-to-back tournaments, chasing the title and the record. He also secured both his first and second GM norms in the Hungarian capital, back in April at the Vezerkepzo tournament and the May 2021 First Saturday tournament, both round-robins of 10 players specially set up for scoring norms.