Who is Abhimanyu Mishra, the youngest Chess GM?

Twelve-year-old Indian-American Abhimanyu Mishra made headlines late Thursday by becoming the youngest Chess Grand Master in the world, breaking the record held by Sergey Karajkin since 2002.

Hailed as a prodigy by many, Abhimanyu was introduced to chess by his father Hemant as early as the age of two and has never looked back since.

The Indian-American blitzed through opponents, young and old, in the US and elsewhere, and smashed record after record. At the age of six, he became the youngest national champion in the United States. At the age of nine, he became the youngest National Master.

In the summer of 2019, he had gotten the attention of his chess hero Garry Kasparov. On November 12, 2019, Abhimanyu made history in becoming the youngest International Master, eclipsing the record held by India's Praggnanadhaa by a mere 17 days.

The wunderkind's journey to the upper echelons of world chess has been nowhere near easy though. With no corporate sponsor backing him, Abhimanyu's parents Hemant and Swati have largely relied on personal savings and donations from a gofundme page they made to attend tournaments across the world.

In fact, Hemant and Abhimanyu, who have been in Budapest since April, nearly exhausted the $16,000 they raised for this trip. The 12-year-old earned his first GM norm in April, the second in May, while the third one — which he must secure to be considered a Grand Master — required a lot more patience. The 'angsty' wait for Abhimanyu was over earlier than expected on Tuesday at the Vezerkepzo GM Mix.

Some older opponents who have fallen victim to the youngster before have described playing against him as watching "history in the making." Arun Prasad, a chess coach told Indian Express that Abhimanyu's ability to remember moves from 2014 and 2015 showed a level of absorption (in his mind) like none other.

His current coach, Magesh Chandran of New Jersey's Kings and Queens Academy described to the publication Abhimanyu's game as "aggressive as well as defensive". He added that Abhimanyu is "quite fast and thinks on the feet."

Outside the 64-squared chequered board, Abhimanyu, like his sporting idol Michael Phelps wants to get a black belt in karate. He also enjoys playing video games with his friends. Abhimanyu has a bright future and there's no saying how many more records he can smash. But for now, the next stop in Abhimanyu's impressive career is the FIDE World Cup.