Abhimanyu Mishra, who has become the youngest Grandmaster in the history of chess, has been marked out as a special talent for years, but funding has been a problem. As his father Hemant, a data management professional, used his savings to fund his son’s chess ambitions, they turned to crowdsourcing to raise money: Their appeal on gofundme.com has already raised $16,243, and the donors would be happy with what the youngster has achieved.

In late 2019, just a couple of months before the Covid-19 pandemic struck, Mishra became an International Master at 10 years, nine months and three days. Mishra, who was only two-and-a-half-years old when introduced to chess by his father, broke the record of the current U18 world champion Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu by 17 days.