9/27/2022 – This book contains a revealing self-portrait of Abhimanyu Mishra. The youngest grandmaster in the history of chess tells the story of a highly ambitious family project. Supported by his father, mother and sister, Abhi sets out to beat a nineteen-year-old world record. In June 202, at the height of the Covid pandemic, he succeeded against all odds: ‘I should have been jumping with excitement, but my heart was so full that I ended up teary-eyed in my father's arms.’ Book review.
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Abhi was born on February 5, 2009. On June 30, 2021, he became the youngest grandmaster in the world at 12 years 4 months and 25 days.
In this book, he explains the extraordinary training methods of his father, who not only helped Abhi develop his talents and fighting spirit but also selected his professional chess coaches to constantly improve his skills. Together they travelled from New Jersey to Budapest, Hungary, for the last part of the journey – a non-stop barrage of chess games to secure the necessary results.
"The pressure was immense, both for me and my opponent. It was a dead equal game and I decided to sacrifice my knight for a pawn. It was right at this moment that my opponent gave in to the severe time pressure and ended up making a mistake. After a few moves, GM Leon resigned. I had won the game. I went out and saw Bapu waiting for me. I rushed to him and gave him a big hug. I had become the youngest Grandmaster in the entire world. I had beaten a nineteen-year-old world record. I should have been jumping with excitement, but my heart was so full that I ended up teary-eyed in the arms of my father."
If you wish to purchase this book you can best do so directly from the publishers, New in Chess, where it is available as a paperback (€24.95) or an eBook (€19.95). There you can see some sample pages, which include the forward, written by the author of this review. I had met Abhi, virtually in Skype, in 2021. About this he writes:
Interestingly, Frederic Friedel, founder of ChessBase, has been a part of the journey of chess players who have reached the top today. It is as if supporting and motivating young talent in the field of chess is a life mission for him. How can I not feel grateful for his presence in my life? Whether it was a coincidence or fate, I do not know. But at a time when life was throwing disappointment after disappointment my way, he appeared and encouraged me to keep working hard, no matter the circumstances. In that moment I knew that the disappointments were in fact leading me to my goal.
Abhi's book contains a lot of chess. But it is the narrative between the games that delight. We are given a vivid description of the adventure of a young boy on a very big mission. It is all described in his own words. Here are some examples that will give you an impression of his writing and style. Let us start with a practical problem of a 12-year-old:
As a five year old kid, I was extremely fond of my glass of milk in the morning. Now, not all games that I played were a couple of miles away. Many times Bapu drove for over ninety minutes to get me to the venue. Each of these times I made it a point to drink a glass of milk before leaving. I didn't want to feel hungry on the way, you see. But every single time I would be in a daze, distracted to the highest degree possible until I vomited my heart out. It soon became a pattern. Playing a good game was next to impossible until my ritualistic throwing up happened. In no time at all my dad understood that the long drives combined with the good glass of milk were the roadblock. Eliminating the drives was out of the question. So he chose the second best and eliminated the glass of milk before games far from home. It was replaced with a light, healthy snack, along with a no junk food rule two days prior to every such tournament. In a battle of love and life, life ended up winning.
Or another passage:
I wasn't always a tiger roaring at my opponents across a chess board. There was a time when I was a shy little boy. I was working hard at my game, I was making progress, but I continued to struggle inwardly. At one of the League Nights, I was paired against a six feet tall, brawny man who looked deep into my eyes as I played my game. As I took position for the game before it started, he looked at me from head to toe. What do I hear next? He asked me to go call my dad or whoever it was to be playing against him. I don't quite blame him for mistaking me for just a random kid accompanying his chess champion father. It was only when Bapu came to the spot and confirmed that it was me who would be playing against him, did he give in, albeit apprehensively.
And here is a sample of a game, one of 26 that he has annotated, quite extrensively, in the book. Note that you can click on the moves to replay them on a pop-up board, which has an engine (fan icon) to help you follow the analysis.
1.e4 I was qualified to play in 6U and
8U sections of this tournament based on my uscf rating. I decided to play in
8U. I won 3 games and drew 2 games to get the clear first place.These ratings
are uscf ratings.c52.Nf3d63.d4cxd44.Nxd4Nf65.Nc3g6
My opponent in this game played the Sicilian Dragon, which is a very sharp
opening.6.Be3Bg77.f30-08.Qd2This is one of the most common systems
against the Dragon. White's attacking plan here is very straightfoward: castle
queenside, h4-h5 open the h file, if possible it would be beneficial to play
Bh6 in order to trade off the black king's main defender; the Bg7 and try to
mate.Nc69.0-0-0
9...d5!?d5 is one of the lines here and is a very
direct attempt opening up the center.9...Bd7
intending Rc8 Ne5 and Qa5, is another plan for black. The position will become
very sharp and double-edged as both sides will rush to attack the enemy's king.
10.exd5I do not like this move as now after all the exchanges, black
will have open files and most importantly, his Bg7 will be extremely strong,
exerting pressure on the white queenside.I think10.Qe1is a better
move here for the reason that it does not open so many lines on the queenside.dxe4?obviously fails to11.Nxc6with a discovered attack on the queen10...Nxd511.Nxc6bxc612.Nxd5cxd513.Qxd5
13...Qc7!This move
seemingly hangs a rook. Or does it?14.Qxa8Bf5!This was black's idea
behind Qc7. The threat on queen and the mate threat on c2 both cannot be
stopped and white has to give up their queen15.Qxf8+Kxf8
Even though
white is up by 2 points materially here, it is much easier to play with black.
The reason is the following: by spending a few tempi taking this pawn, white
has fallen behind in the race of attacking the black king. Furthermore, black
has open b and c files. Therefore, it would be much simpler to attack the
white king, than to attack the black king.16.Rd2Defending c2.16.Bd3?would lose toQe5with a double attack on e3 and b2. A key point is that17.Bxf5Qxe3+18.Kb1trying to be sneaky, fails toQb6!which wins as
black defends against Rd8#, and threatens mate in 1. Once white defends then
the Bf5 would be hanging18...gxf5??19.Rd8#would be a rather
unfortunate way to end the game for black.19.c3gxf5-+16...h5!?
Preventing g4 which would have kicked away the Bf516...Qe5??just
blunders as17.Rd8#is mate17.Be2Developing my bishop and preparing
Rhd1Kg8!The idea behind this move is that now Rd8 would not be mate, and
therefore black can now move his queen freely.18.Kb1
18.Rhd1is also
possible, but afterQe519.Bd4Qxh220.Bxg7Kxg7
This is a double edged position where both sides will
advance their pawns, but I prefer black here due to his superior dark square
control18...Qb7?I dislike this move as it allows me to challenge
the extremely strong Bg7 with Bd4 without giving up the h2 pawn.18...Qe5! was the best move, and after19.Bd4Qf4attacking both
the Rd2 and Bd4 and therefore forcing20.Rhd1Bxd421.Rxd4Qxh2and black
is better here. This is a better version of 18.Rhd1 for black as, here white
cannot simply move his bishop to c4 for example to protect the pawn. Instead,
to defend the pawn he has to play more passively with22.Bf1h4 and here there are now ideas of Qg3 followed by h3.
Once white captures on h3 then black could take the f3 pawn.19.Bd4!Qb4?This move is a mistake because it allows my rooks to get coordinated.19...Bxd4!was better, as after20.Rxd4Qc7! attacking the
c2 pawn, and more importantly it prevents the h1 rook from moving as then h2
would be hanging20.Rhd1Bh6?
Something like20...e521.Bc3Qc5was better compared to the game, but
even here although double edged, I believe white is better as pressure from
the Bg7 has now been prevented by the Bc3.21.Bc3!attacking the
queen and opening the d file for my rooks.Qa421...Qb6Perhaps was a bit
better, stopping the combination in the game but after22.Rd8+Bf823.Re8!white should nevertheless win as the threat of Rdd8 winning the Bf8 simply
cannot be prevented22.Rd8+Bf8
Of course22...Kh7just loses to23.Rh8#23.Rxf8+!This combination ends in a rook up position. Other
moves may have also won, but this was by far the easiestKxf824.Rd8+Qe825.Bg7+!With this nice intermezzo, white bags a full rook compared to "just"
a pieceThe natural25.Rxe8+is also winning because white is up a piece,
but why be up a piece when you could be up a rook?25...Kxg726.Rxe8
From here the game needs no more explanation; white is completely winning due
to his extra rookKf627.Ra8Ke528.Rxa7Kd629.a4f630.a5Kc631.Rxe7Bc832.a6Kb633.a7Bb734.Re6+Kxa735.Rxf6g536.Rf5g437.Rxh5gxf338.Bxf3Bc839.g4Kb640.g5Bf541.g6Be641...Bxg642.Rh6+-42.g7Kc743.Bd5Bxd544.Rxd5Kc645.g8QKc746.Qd8+Kb747.Rb5+Kc648.Qd5+Kc749.Rb7+Kc850.Qd7#1–0
While being absolutely sound (click on a move and start the engine to analyse the lines Abhi has given), it also gives you an impression of the thoughts and feelings of the seven-year-old chess talent who was rated 1867 at the time.
The book contains many games from Abhi's final IM phase, but also from the time he had become the youngest GM in the history of the game. If you want to hear what he sounds like and how he discusses his games, here's a session Sagar Shah of ChessBase Indian conducted with Abhi so after he had his GM title. They discuss what the boy considers his best game. About this Abhi writes:
When I became a grandmaster, only a couple of hours later IM Sagar Shah interviewed me on the ChessBase India YouTube stream. How incredibly fortunate I was to be receiving the kind of support that only a family can provide, at one of the most crucial moments of my life in chess. No amount of words can express my gratitude for them.
Here's the video stream Sagar broadcast:
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1.d4d52.c4c63.Nf3Nf64.Qb3dxc45.Qxc4Bf56.g3e67.Bg2Be78.0-00-09.Nbd2Nbd710.Qb3Qb611.Nc4Qa611...Qxb312.axb3gives White a
nice position with the rook opening up via the a-file.12.Bf4Nd513.Bd6Be4
14.Bxe7NPredecessor:14.Rfc1N7b615.Bxe7Nxe716.Ncd2Bg617.e3Rfd818.Bf1Qa519.Rc5Qa420.Ne5Qxb321.Nxb31-0 (64)
Lazavik,D (2424)-Mikhailovsky,V (2228) Chess.com INT 202014...Nxe715.Nd6Bd516.Qc216.Qxb7Qxb717.Nxb7Rab8=16...Nc8?!16...Nf617.e4Rad818.exd5Rxd6=17.Ng5!17.Nxc8Raxc818.e418.Ng5Nf619.e4Bc420.Rfd1was another way to play.18...Bc419.Rfc1Bd317...Nf617...f5feels hotter.18.Nxc8Raxc819.Rfc1Bxg220.Kxg2Qb518.Nde4Nxe419.Bxe4Bxe419...f520.Bd3Qb621.e4fxe422.Bxe4+-19...g620.Bd3±20.Qxe4g621.e321.Qh4h522.g421.Qe5Nb622.Ne4Nd721...h622.Nf322.Nxe6?Re8-+22...Qb523.Ne5Ne724.Qf4Nf5
It was at this point that Abhimanyu dug his head deep and calculated 15 moves
ahead.24...Kg725.Nd7Rfd826.Qf6++-25.a4!In order to deflect
the queen from the control of the b3 square so that later White can safely
take on e6 with the queen and put the queen on b3.The variation that
Abhimanyu began with was g4. However, this he did not like because25.g4g526.Qf3Nh427.Qf6Qd527...Kh728.Nd728.Nxf7!±28...Qd528...Qxb2∞29.Nxf8++-28.f3Kh729.Nxf7Ng630.e4Qb530...Qd731.Qxg6+Kxg632.Ne5++-30...Qa531.Qxe6Rae832.Qb3+-31.Qxe6?31.a4!is still a strong possibility.Qe232.Rf2Qe333.f4!33.Ra3Qc1+34.Rf1Qxb2=33...gxf434.Ra3Qe1+35.Rf1Qh436.Qxh4Nxh437.Rxf4
Transposes into the game.31...Rae832.Qf632.Qf5Qb6-+32...Re7-+25...Qa526.g4g527.Qf3Nh428.Qf6Qd529.f3Kh729...c5might be the
best move here, but it is difficult for humans to think this way as the h6
pawn is hanging.30.Qxh6cxd431.Qxg5+Ng632.f430.Nxf7Ng631.e4!Qb331...Qd7?32.Qxg6+‼A recurring theme.Kxg633.Ne5+Kh734.Nxd7+-31...Qa532.Qxe6Rae833.Qb331...Qc432.Qxg6+!Kxg633.Ne5+!+-32.f4!This is an amazing move that Abhimanyu had seen from a
distance. His idea is to switch the rook from a3 to h3.32.Ra3Qxb2=32...Qe3+32...e533.fxg5+-32...gxf433.Ra3Qxb234.Rh3+-32...Nxf433.Qxh6+Kg834.Qxg5++-33.Rf233.Kh1Qxe4+-+33...gxf4
35...Qe236.Raf3Here too Abhimanyu
clearly saw that h4-h5 is winning and Black cannot do anything against it.36.Ng5+hxg537.Rh3+Nh438.Qxg5Qg2#36...Rac836...Qc437.Qxg6+Kxg638.Ne5++-36...Rae837.h4e538.h5Nh439.Qxh6+Kg840.Qg5+Kh741.Qxh4Rxf742.dxe5Rxe543.Qh2±37.h4Rc738.h5+-36.Qxh4But not
36.Qxe6?Rae8-+36.Rxf4Qxf637.Rxf6Kg738.Raf3Nh836...Nxh437.Rxf437.Ne537...Kg738.g5!The only move to keep the
advantage. In fact the only move to prevent sliding into a worse position!
Abhimanyu had seen it 13 moves ago!! What a boy.hxg538...Rxf739.gxh6+Kf839...Kg840.Rg3+40.Rxh439.Nxg5+-Rxf440.Nxe6+The rest is
easy.Kf641.Nxf4Kg541...Re842.Ne2Re843.Rg3+Kf644.Rg4Nf3+45.Kf2Nd246.e5+Ke646...Kf5is a better defense.47.Ke3Nc4+48.Ke4Nd2+49.Kd3Nf350.Rg7c5?50...Re751.Nf4+White is clearly winning.Kf552.Rf7+Kg453.Nd51–0
Frederic FriedelEditor-in-Chief emeritus of the ChessBase News page. Studied Philosophy and Linguistics at the University of Hamburg and Oxford, graduating with a thesis on speech act theory and moral language. He started a university career but switched to science journalism, producing documentaries for German TV. In 1986 he co-founded ChessBase.
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