Abhimanyu Mishra (born February 5, 2009) is an American chess grandmaster. A chess prodigy, he holds the record for the world's youngest ever grandmaster, having qualified for the title at the age of 12 years, 4 months, and 25 days.[4][5]
Career
Mishra became the youngest player ever to achieve a USCF rating of 2000 at the age of 7 years, 6 months and 22 days in September of 2016, breaking the record previously held by GM Awonder Liang. [6] Until 30 June 2024, he also held the world record for the youngest International Master (IM), a title which he earned in November 2019 at the age of 10 years, 9 months, and 20 days, breaking the record previously held by Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa.[7][8]FIDE awarded him the official title of IM in February 2020.[9]
In March 2021, Mishra tied for first place with GM Vladimir Belous in the Charlotte Chess Center's Spring 2021 GM Norm Invitational held in Charlotte, North Carolina, U.S., with a score of 5.5/9, achieving his first FIDE rating over 2400 in the process[10]
In April 2021, Mishra tied for first place at the Vezérképző GM tournament in Budapest, Hungary, with a score of 7/9 and performance rating of 2603, earning his first GM norm.[11] In May 2021, Mishra won the First Saturday GM tournament in Budapest, Hungary, with a score of 8.0/9 and performance rating of 2739, earning his second GM norm with a round to spare.[12] In June 2021, Mishra won the Vezérképző GM Mix tournament in Budapest, Hungary, with a score of 7.0/9 and a performance rating of 2619; earning his third GM norm and making him the youngest Grandmaster in chess history, breaking the record previously held by GM Sergey Karjakin.[13][14][15]
Mishra received congratulations from many players, including former record holder Karjakin[16] and then-World ChampionMagnus Carlsen.[17] A New York Times article cited concerns from Nigel Short and Bruce Pandolfini about the methods used to achieve the feat. They alleged that the GM qualification structure encourages "norm" tournaments that narrowly qualify as prestigious enough to count as a GM norm, but no tougher, to make a strong performance from the candidate easier to achieve. They noted that the average rating of Mishra's opponents was noticeably lower in Hungary than in Charlotte, North Carolina.[18] World Championship challenger Ian Nepomniachtchi suggested that some changes could be made to the qualification process.[19][20] In 2022 FIDE updated the rules regarding titled norms, imposing that at least one norm be obtained at a Swiss tournament with at least 40 participants of an average rating of 2000 and above.[21]
Mishra won the St. Louis 2022 Spring Chess Classic B with a score of 7/9 and a tournament performance rating of 2739.[23]
Mishra placed second in the 2023 TePe Sigeman & Co with a score of 4.5/7 and a tournament performance rating of 2742.[24]
Mishra won the 2023 USA Junior Championship with a score of 6/9, qualifying him to play in the US Championship.[25] In the US Championship he tied for second place with a score of 6.5/11.[26] He continued his success at the 2023 FIDE Grand Swiss, finishing with a score of 5.5/11.[27]
^Susan Polgar (November 9, 2019). "Meet the world's youngest IM, Abhimanyu Mishra of the US". GamesMaven. Archived from the original on March 1, 2021. Retrieved December 9, 2019. Abhimanyu, born on 5 February 2009, thus achieved his IM title at the age of 10 years, 9 months and 3 days. This is 17 days faster than Praggnanandhaa. Abhimanyu Mishra is now the youngest IM in the world.
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