A few days ago the news broke that an Indian player playing for the American Chess Federation, Abhimanyu Mishra has become the youngest player to win the title of Chess Grandmaster (GM). The news has been front page of all chess media and some conventional.
This is an immense achievement and all the more so given how complicated the last year has been, in which the Covid-19 pandemic has paralysed many activities globally.
Abhimanyu Mishra became the youngest GM in chess history, eclipsing Sergey Karjakin’s record of 12 years and 7 months, which has stood for 19 years. Abhimanyu has become GM at the age of 12 years, 4 months and 25 days!
A Child Grandmaster
Player Abhimanyu Mishra is first and foremost a 12-year-old boy. I particularly find it an amazing feat, all of us who play chess know how difficult it is to play and win titles. However, he is a child and perhaps he should be doing things as children, chess being a prize. Basically chess is a game.
To get his title he has been playing non-stop since January 2021, as seen in this official screenshot of the Fide (International Chess Federation) website.
The youngest Grandmasters
This is a list of the youngest Grandmasters in history. The list updates to July 4, 2021.
| No. | Jugador | País | Edad |
| 1 | Abhimanyu Mishra | USA | 12 years, 4 months, 25 days |
| 2 | Sergey Karjakin | Ucrania* | 12 years, 7 months, 0 days |
| 3 | Gukesh Dommaraju | India | 12 years, 7 months, 17 days |
| 4 | Javokhir Sindarov | Uzbekistan | 12 years, 10 months, 5 days |
| 5 | Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu | India | 12 years, 10 months, 13 days |
| 6 | Nodirbek Abdusattorov | Uzbekistan | 13 years, 1 months, 11 days |
| 7 | Parimarjan Negi | India | 13 years, 4 months, 22 days |
| 8 | Magnus Carlsen | Noruega | 13 years, 4 months, 27 days |
| 9 | Wei Yi | China | 13 years, 8 months, 23 days |
| 10 | Raunak Sadhwani | India | 13 years, 9 months, 28 days |
The controversy surrounding his title of Grandmaster
Possibly one of the most incisive players outside and inside the tobacconist is Yan Nepomniachtchi. A few months ago he earned the right to compete for the world title against Magnus Carlsen. They will compete against each other from November 24 to December 16, 2021, and the event will be held in conjunction with the “World Expo” in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
It all started with a tweet in which he barely congratulated Abhimanyu on his success, but rather commented on his doubts about the current ELO scoring system that became GM.
He goes on to say that he is dazzled by the new record, but that he would like to suggest some changes in the order of awarding degrees. As for example that one of the rules (you need 3 rules to be GM) was in an open tournament. This tweet had several responses, supposedly, by the child himself although many doubts were generated that it was made by him. Rather, it is known that it was written by someone in his name, possibly his father.
The responses between the two were quite arrogant and bordering on rudeness. In a 12-year-old child it is unlikely that he has active arrogance. Perhaps what I should have done was to thank the comment, without any further interaction. Sometimes a like is all you need. Social networks often become games of ping-pong, in which one wants to be above another.
The games of the child Grandmaster
Due to the popularity that achieved its success many websites and Youtube channels have echoed his departures. Basically, for me the most important thing is chess, and this kid plays chess very well.
A selection of his games can be seen here -> https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessplayer?pid=163109.
By the way, remember that this website has a free chess course that you can find here -> https://avertigoland.com/curso/chess-introductory-course-free/. Sign up and you can start the adventure.
Sources
- https://new.uschess.org/
- https://www.chess.com/es/article/view/campeonato-mundo-2021-carlsen-nepomniachtchi
- https://www.elespanol.com/deportes/otros-deportes/20210702/abhimanyu-mishra-gambito-dama-kasparov-maestro-ajedrez/593441731_0.html
- https://www.infobae.com/america/deportes/2021/07/01/el-nino-record-de-12-anos-que-conquisto-el-titulo-de-gran-maestro-e-hizo-historia-en-el-ajedrez-mundial/
- https://www.chess.com/es/news/view/abhimanyu-mishra-gran-maestro-mas-joven-historia
