World Champion D. Gukesh suffered his second straight defeat at the FIDE Grand Swiss, losing to Greece's Nikolas Theodorou in the sixth round in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, on Tuesday. Before that, Gukesh lost to Abhimanyu Mishra of the USA, who holds the record for being the youngest-ever Grandmaster at the age of 12 years, 4 months, and 25 days, in the previous round. Mishra, who is now 16, is the youngest player to win a classical chess match against an incumbent World Chess Champion.
Mishra is also the youngest player ever to achieve a USCF rating of 2000 at the age of 7 years, 6 months, and 22 days in 2016, breaking the record previously held by GM Awonder Liang. Until June 30, 2024, Mishra was the youngest International Master (IM), a title he earned in November 2019 at the age of 10 years, 9 months, and 20 days.
Back in 2021, at an event in Budapest, Mishra, the American boy with Indian roots, broke Sergey Karjakin's record, having completed his GM title in 2002 at the age of 12 years and seven months. Mishra had also held the record as the youngest-ever International Master, surpassing the mark set by Indian R Praggnanandhaa in 2019.
Mishra's coach, GM Arun Prasad, earlier said he deserved it for all the hard work he had put in. Grandmaster Magesh Panchanathan, one of the youngster's coaches, said Mishra was
"Abhi is one of the most hardworking kids I have ever seen. His work ethic comes directly from his dad Hemant, who is one of the pillars behind his success. I have known Abhi since he was five years old. We have worked very hard on his game through the years. His main coach Arun has spent countless hours on his openings and his middle game to get him to the position he is in now," the US-based Magesh said.
