Indian-origin American Abhimanyu Mishra became the youngest-ever chess grandmaster in the world at 12 years, four months and 25 days. He broke the long-standing record, held by Sergey Karjakin, who was 12 years and seven months old when he attained the title. India’s R Praggnanandhaa had almost surpassed him three years ago,but missed by a whisker. After becoming the world’s youngest International Master last year, Abhimanyu achieved this feat at the Vezerkepzo GM Mix in Budapest, by defeating grandmaster Leon Mendonca. He had already topped the required 2500 Elo rating mark in June, paving the way for him to better the 19-year-old record by approximately 66 days.
Abhimanyu was introduced to chess when he was just two-and-a-half years old. At the age of just seven, Abhimanyu became the United States Chess Federation’s youngest expert. At nine, he was the youngest National Master, and became the youngest ever International Master at 10 years, 9 months, and 20 days.
Of the five previous youngest grandmasters—from Tigran Petrosian (23) to Boris Spassky (18), then Bobby Fischer (15), Judit Polgar (15) and Karjakin (12)—all but Karjakin went on to become world champions, which indicates that the 12-year-old’s journey has just begun.
Grandmaster Title and Regulations
To win the title of a grandmaster in chess, a player must achieve three grandmaster norms—an award given for a high level of performance in a chess tournament—as well as achieve a 2500 Elo rating given out by the Federation Internationale des Echecs (FIDE), the rankings that govern international chess competition.
The current requirements for becoming a grandmaster are as follows:
An Elo rating of at least 2500 at any point in their career. (The rating requirement can be fulfilled even if the player starts a tournament rated <2500 and then reaches or exceeds 2500 during the tournament but concludes the tournament with a rating <2500.)
Two favourable norms (results) from a total of at least 27 games in tournaments. With some exceptions, to receive a norm in a tournament: The player’s rating performance must be at least 2600 at the end of the tournament. At least 33 per cent of the player’s opponents must be grandmasters. At least 50 per cent of the player’s opponents must hold a FIDE title. The player’s opponents must have an average rating of at least 2380 and must come from at least 3 different chess federations, which can include the player’s own federation—a maximum of 60 per cent of a player’s opponents can come from the player’s own federation. A maximum of 66 per cent of a player’s opponents can come from a single federation.
The Elo rating system indicates the relative strength of a player compared to other players in games like chess. Its creator, Arpad Elo, was a chess master and physics professor in the United States, who worked to improve the way the US Chess Federation measured their players’ skill levels.
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