Chess whiz Raunak Sadhwani is set to become India’s 65th chess grandmaster (GM).
The 13-year-old joins an elite club of the world’s youngest GMs — only 10 players aged 13 or below have managed to clinch this title in the recorded history of the game since 1950.
Younger Indians The median age at which Indian players became GM has been, in general, lower than the figure for players from the rest of the world.
Russian supremacy Russia (including Soviet Union) has the most GMs, followed by the U.S. and Germany. India is in sixth place.
A sport for the young A higher number of younger players have become GMs in the recent years. The chart shows every Indian GM along with those from the rest of the world.
In the 1980s and early 1990s, a larger no. of older players became GMs. Bobby Fischer (GM at 15 in 1958) was the youngest grandmaster till Peter Leko broke the record in 1994.
In recent times, the record is being broken in a shorter time span. Vishwanathan Anand became India’s first GM at 19 in 1998.
