Six points from nine earned it. Roman Shogdzhiev, an 11-year-old international master, scored his second grandmaster norm in the Serbian Super League on October 12, 2026, as Chess.com reported. One more norm and 29 rating points now stand between him and Abhimanyu Mishra's youngest-grandmaster record.
Shogdzhiev led Partizan Belgrade from the top board and wrapped up his event with a round-nine draw against Hungarian GM Ferenc Berkes, which brought him to 6/9.
He did not play the last two rounds. His performance rating of 2662 cleared the 2600 needed for a GM norm with room to spare.
The tournament also added 26.1 points to his rating, pushing his live figure to 2471.1.
Three grandmasters fell to him along the way: Ivan Cheparinov (2631), Bharath Subramaniyam (2603) and Jingyao Tin (2602). According to the report, his only defeat came against Santhosh in round seven.
"I want to become world champion. I just want to. That would be awesome!" Roman Shogdzhiev said when asked about his ultimate goal earlier in 2026, as quoted by Chess.com.
How the Serbian Super League went
Chess.com picked out the win over Cheparinov as the most impressive of the lot. The Bulgarian is a four-time national champion and currently works with GM Alireza Firouzja.
Shogdzhiev held control of that game from the first move to the last, the outlet wrote. Several of his other points came from patient grinding in the endgame.
His first GM norm came in June 2026 in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, where he played the Asian Individual Championship. Starting as the 50th seed, he took 10th place with 6/9.
He lost none of his games against the six grandmasters he met there. That norm made him the youngest player ever to earn one, ending GM Illya Nyzhnyk's 18-year-old record.
The records started earlier. In 2025, working with a team of grandmasters led by GM Evgeny Tomashevsky, he set a new mark as the youngest IM ever at 10 years, 3 months and 21 days.
That broke GM Faustino Oro's previous record by more than five months.
Wider attention came at the 2023 FIDE World Rapid & Blitz Championship, where Shogdzhiev, then eight, beat five grandmasters.
GM Magnus Carlsen noticed, telling Norwegian media at the time that the boy could reach the top of the game within a few years.
Racing Mishra's record
Mishra set the current mark in June 2021, earning the title at 12 years, 4 months and 25 days.
Shogdzhiev is 11 years and 8 months old, giving him a deadline of late June 2027.
His 12th birthday falls on February 4, 2027. Chess.com noted that finishing every requirement before then would make him the first grandmaster under 12, beating Mishra by over four months.
Youngest grandmasters so far
The current top five on the Chess.com list of youngest grandmasters:
- Abhimanyu Mishra, 12 years, 4 months, 25 days
- Faustino Oro, 12 years, 6 months, 26 days
- Sergey Karjakin, 12 years, 7 months, 0 days
- Gukesh Dommaraju, 12 years, 7 months, 17 days
- Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus, 12 years, 9 months, 29 days
What remains for Shogdzhiev
His to-do list is short: a third GM norm and 29 more rating points. Chess.com described him as one of the most closely watched prodigies in chess.
According to the report, no player has ever reached that milestone before turning 12. If both pieces arrive before February 4, 2027, Shogdzhiev would be the first.
Practice the endgame grind
Several of Shogdzhiev's wins in Serbia came from grinding in the endgame, and that kind of patient technique is something club players can train.
Chessiverse has 9,000+ puzzles and challenges to work through, so our puzzles are a good place to start.
After that, try the same patience in real games, since the roster offers an opponent at every rating, from beginner to 3000+.