Gukesh’s conqueror and world record holder: Who is Abhimanyu Mishra, the 16-year-old chess prodigy making history

D Gukesh got a taste of his own medicine when American teenager Abhimanyu Mishra scripted a historic win over the chess world champion at the FIDE Grand Swiss 2025 on Monday. Gukesh became the youngest to win the World Chess Championship at the age of 18 in December 2024 when he defeated Ding Liren of China in Singapore after becoming the youngest ever FIDE Candidates winner earlier last year at 17.

In Samarkand on Monday, 16-year-old Abhimanyu Mishra became the youngest ever to beat a reigning world champion in classical chess as he defeated Gukesh in 61 moves during the Round 5 contest of the Grand Swiss event in Uzbekistan. Abhimanyu broke compatriot Grandmaster Gata Kamsky’s 33-year-old record, which he earned at the age of 17 by defeating the then-world champion Garry Kasparov in Dortmund.

Being the world champion, Gukesh doesn’t need to qualify for the Candidates 2026, but he is taking part in the Grand Swiss, a tournament that offers direct spots to FIDE Candidates, to test himself and improve his game. One can now say there could not have been a better preparation tournament for Gukesh, who committed a massive blunder on the 12th move while playing with black pieces. The 19-year-old Indian chess star was unable to recover from a poor position as Mishra romped to a memorable victory.

Who is Abhimanyu Mishra, the conqueror of D Gukesh?

This is not the first time Abhimanyu Mishra has achieved a world record. He is the youngest Grandmaster of all time, which he achieved by capturing the title at the age of 12 years, 4 months and 25 days on 30 June 2021. He picked up his third and final Grandmaster norm by beating  Indian GM Leon Luke Mendonca at the Vezerkepzo GM Mix tournament in Budapest.

Breaking: GM Abhimanyu Mishra @ChessMishra takes down @FIDE_chess World Champion @DGukesh in R5 of the 2025 Grand Swiss in Uzbekistan.

Mishra improves to 4/5 against opponents all rated between 70 and 174 points higher than the New Jersey 16-year-old. Photo c FIDE/Michal Walusza https://t.co/P5zJ9qRCnv pic.twitter.com/TEuQ72ZlX5

— US Chess (@USChess) September 8, 2025

At that time, he broke the record of GM Sergey Karjakin, which had stood for 19 years since 12 August 2002. Karjakin was 12 years and seven months when he became a Grandmaster.

In 2019, Abhimanyu Mishra became the youngest International Master at the age of 10years, 9 months and 20 days.

Abhimanyu Mishra, who hails from New Jersey in the USA, was born on 5 February 2009 to Hemant and Swati Mishra. His father originally hails from Bhopal and did his MTech from MANIT-Bhopal in 2000 before moving to the USA five years later, a Times of India report stated. His mother, Swati, is originally from Agra, and the young chess star also has a sister, Ridhima.

An early start is the biggest factor behind Abhimanyu Mishra’s meteoric rise, as he began playing chess at the age of 2. His parents did not want him to spend time on the phone, and as a result, they introduced him to chess at an early age.

“We started way back when he was 2 years and 8 months. The idea was to introduce this Roya Game to him. We preferred him spending time on this game, rather than working on his phone or iPad because at that time, I saw many kids who were addicted to that,” Hemant told India Today in 2021.

“That’s how it started. He started playing tournaments from the age of 5.”

“I don’t think I was a huge underdog, considering that I drew against Pragg with Black.”

— @ChessMishra, after beating 🇮🇳Gukesh pic.twitter.com/9aTS1fXEQt

— Take Take Take (@TakeTakeTakeApp) September 8, 2025

Abhimanyu Mishra has been coached by Indian Grandmasters Arun Prasad Subramanian and Magesh Chandran.

“We were lucky to get very good coaches, Grand Master Arun Prasad Subramanian and Grandmaster Mahesh. They started planning everything and we were just executing,” Hemant added.

Abhimanyu currently has a classical rating of 2611, but his live rating during the FIDE Grand Swiss has shot up to 2637.2, entering the top 100 rankings. He is currently ranked 94th in live rating.