Shogdzhiev, 11, Beats Three 2600s in Serbia for a Second GM Norm

Eleven-year-old Roman Shogdzhiev has earned his second grandmaster norm at the 2026 Serbian Super Liga, playing top board for Partizan Belgrade. He scored 6/9 with four wins, four draws and one loss, for a performance rating of 2662.

The result added 26.1 rating points. He sat out the final two rounds of the competition.

The scalps

Three of his wins came against grandmasters rated above 2600. Bulgaria’s Ivan Cheparinov (2631) was one, India’s Bharath Subramaniyam (2603) another, and Singapore’s Tin Jingyao (2602) the third.

He also drew eight-time Hungarian champion Ferenc Berkes. His only loss was to Indian IM Santhosh Parvathareddy.

Beating three players of that strength in one event is the real content of the norm. A GM norm requires a 2600-plus performance over a set number of games against a qualifying field, and 2662 clears that comfortably.

How he got here

The first norm came in June at the Asian Individual Championship in Ulaanbaatar. Seeded 50th, he scored 6/9 and stayed undefeated against six grandmasters. At 11 years, 4 months and 1 day, he became the youngest player to obtain a GM norm.

In May 2025 he became the youngest international master in history, at 10 years, 3 months and 21 days. A group of grandmasters led by former Russian champion Evgeny Tomashevsky oversees his training.

Leonard Barden noted in The Guardian that the coaching team has organised periodic blitz tournaments in Moscow where the boy could sharpen his speed against strong rivals. That may help explain how he copes with sharp, fast-moving club-team matches.

What is left

Before Serbia, he scored 4½/7 on board four for Elektroprivreda at the European Club Cup. His live rating is now 2484.1, and he is ranked 19th among players aged 16 or younger.

He still needs a third norm and has to reach 2500. That means roughly 16 more rating points on the live list, though a rating is only official once published, so the exact threshold on the next list matters.

The record

Abhimanyu Mishra of the United States holds the age record, finishing the requirements in June 2021 at 12 years, 4 months and 25 days. Argentina’s Faustino Oro is second, at 12 years, 6 months and 26 days.

Shogdzhiev has until late June 2027 to beat Mishra. If he finishes before his 12th birthday on 4 February 2027, he would be the first player to take the title before turning twelve.

The pace of the current junior generation is striking. England’s Bodhana Sivanandan, also born in 2015, recently became the youngest female international master ever, passing Judit Polgar’s record.

Our earlier piece on Shogdzhiev being one norm from Mishra’s record covered the first norm. The next question is where he finds a third norm opportunity, with about eight months left to beat Mishra’s mark.