Abhi at the Bay Area International Photo David Llada
Rising superstar Abhimanyu Mishra earned his third IM norm at the GM Maxim Academy Closed event in New York City. Mishra has now, pending ratification from FIDE, broken the record for the youngest International Master in World history at 10 years, nine months and three days.
Abhi told CLO just a couple months ago that his goal was to defeat the record previously held by now GM Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa of India. Mishra narrowly did just that, beating the Indian prodigy's feat by just a few weeks. Mishra's second norm was at the Los Angeles Fall GM and IM Norm tournament, the event that raised his rating over 2400, to meet the rating requirement for the IM title.
Next up for Abhi: Naturally, the GM title. He told CLO that he is now after GM Sergey Karjakin's record as the youngest GM in history. Sergei achieved that goal at 12 years and seven months, giving Abhi just under two years to get it done. With his success so far, don't bet against it.
Here is one of Abhi's games from the recent event, a draw against GM Oliver Barbosa.
[pgn]
[Event "Chess Max Acadamy GM Norm Event"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2019.11.03"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Mishra, Abhimanyu"]
[Black "GM Barbosa, Oliver"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B01"]
[WhiteElo "2396"]
[BlackElo "2532"]
[Annotator "Abhimanyu Mishra"]
[PlyCount "144"]
[EventDate "2019.??.??"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.11.06"]
1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qd6 4. d4 Nf6 5. Bc4 a6 6. Nf3 b5 7. Bb3 e6 8. Qe2
{I played this move as black will play c5 next then after dxc5 he would trade
queens and I might not be able to exploit my lead in devolopment.} Bb7 9. Be3
$6 {this is too passive instead} (9. O-O {was better as next the bishop will
go to Bg5 and if h6 then white should play Bxf6 followed by Ne4.} Be7 10. Bg5
O-O (10... h6 $2 11. Bxf6 $1 Bxf6 12. d5 $1 $16) 11. Bxf6 Bxf6 12. Ne4 $11)
9... Nbd7 10. O-O Be7 11. h3 O-O 12. Rad1 c5 $1 13. dxc5 Qc7 {Now black has a
slight edge as my Bb3 is not doing anything.} 14. Bd4 Bxc5 15. Bxc5 Nxc5 16.
Qe3 Rfd8 (16... Nxb3 $6 {Any exchange on b3 would help white as it was not
doing anything.} 17. cxb3 $15) 17. a3 Qc6 18. Rd4 Rxd4 19. Qxd4 Qc7 20. Qe3 Rd8
21. Rd1 Rxd1+ 22. Nxd1 Kf8 {even this ending is unplesant for white for the
same reason as above: The white bishop is a terrible piece though this
position should be holdable.} 23. Nc3 Qc6 24. Qd4 Ke8 {the king is in no
danger in the center as his pieces are well placed.} 25. Ba2 Ncd7 26. Bb3 Nc5
27. Ba2 {Hoping for a repitition but of course he keeps pressing.} Ke7 28. Nd1
$5 {Bringing the knight to e3 and preparing c2-c4.} Qd6 $1 {this was idea:
After the exchange of queens his king will be further activated.} 29. Qxd6+
Kxd6 30. Nd2 Nfe4 31. Nxe4+ $6 (31. Nf1 $1 {was better keeping more pieces on
the board as is king is already well centralized.}) 31... Bxe4 32. c4 {I tried
to activate my bishop on a2 and advancing my queenside majority.} (32. Ne3 $2 {
I didn't like this move because of the following reply:} Na4 $1 33. b4 (33. b3
$2 Nc3) 33... Nc3 34. Bb3 Ke5 $17 {and my bishop will never see light.}) 32...
bxc4 33. Bxc4 Bd3 34. Bxd3 Nxd3 35. Kf1 Kd5 36. Ke2 Kd4 $17 {in this ending
black is better as his king and knight are way better than mine.} 37. Kd2 f5
38. f3 g6 $1 ({The hasty} 38... e5 $6 {would allow} 39. Ne3 {with the double
threat of on taking on f5 and Nc2+ Kc4 b3+ winning the knight.}) 39. b3 (39. b4
{would reach the game position down a tempo.}) 39... Nc5 40. b4 Nd3 41. Ne3 Ne5
42. Nc2+ Kc4 43. a4 Nc6 44. b5 axb5 45. Na3+ Kb4 46. axb5 $6 {this might draw
but the easier way was} (46. Nxb5 Kxa4 47. Nc7 e5 48. Kc3 {when my king will
come to d5 and then it should be a simple draw as his knight will never be
freed.One sample line is:} Ka5 49. Kc4 Ne7 50. Nd5 $1 Nc6 51. Nf6 h6 52. Kd5
$11) 46... Nd8 $1 {I missed this move protecting e6.} (46... Ne5 $2 47. Nc2+
Kxb5 48. Nd4+ {wins the pawn back.}) (46... Nd4 {is a draw in the following
forcing line.} 47. Kd3 Nxb5 48. Nxb5 Kxb5 49. Kd4 Kc6 50. Ke5 Kd7 51. Kf6 Kd6
52. f4 $1 (52. Kg7 $4 e5 $19) 52... Kd5 53. Kg7 Ke4 54. Kxh7 Kxf4 55. Kxg6 e5
56. h4 e4 57. h5 e3 58. h6 e2 59. h7 e1=Q 60. h8=Q {and this is a draw. One
sample line is} Qg3+ 61. Kf7 (61. Kf6 $4 Qc3+ $19) 61... Qxg2 62. Qh4+ Qg4 63.
Qf2+ Qf3 64. Qh4+ Ke3 65. Qe1+ Qe2 66. Qg3+ Ke4 67. Qg6 $3 $11 {prevents f4
and just draws.}) 47. Nc2+ Kxb5 48. f4 {this should be a draw as black will
not be able to create a passed pawn without many pawn exchanges.} Kc5 49. Ke3
Nc6 {in this position if white could get his knight to g5 or f8 he would win a
pawn.} 50. Ne1 $1 {heading towards g5 as f8 is unrealistic.} Nb4 51. g3 ({
Of course not} 51. Nf3 $2 {as black wins a pawn.} Nd5+ $19) 51... Nd5+ 52. Kd3
Nf6 53. Ke3 (53. Nf3 {also holds because of a fantastic resource} Ne4 54. Ke3
$3 (54. g4 $2 Nf2+ $19) 54... Kd6 (54... Nxg3 55. Ng5 $11) 55. g4 $17) 53...
Ne4 54. Nd3+ Kd5 55. Kf3 Nd2+ 56. Ke2 Nc4 57. Kf2 $1 ({Not} 57. Kf3 {because of
} e5 $1 $19 {as taking on e5 will lead to a winning pawn ending and if you
dont take it he will play e4 creating a dangerous protected passed pawn.})
57... h6 58. h4 {preventing g5} Nd6 59. Nb4+ Ke4 60. Na6 Nb7 61. Nc7 Nc5 62.
Ke2 e5 63. fxe5 Kxe5 64. Kf3 Ne6 65. Nb5 g5 66. hxg5 hxg5 67. Ke3 Nc5 68. Nd4
Ne4 69. Nf3+ Kd5 {now many moves draw but the simplest one is} 70. Nxg5 $1 {=}
Nxg5 71. Kf4 Ne4 72. Kxf5 Nxg3+ 1/2-1/2
[/pgn]
Find out more about Abhi and his goals on his gofundme page. You can also find a detailed story on Abhi on chessbase, and follow him at https://www.instagram.com/abhimanyu.mishra2509/
