Lost passport in Slovakia puts Indian chess prodigy Md Imran’s US scholarship at risk, family faces Rs 50 lakh debt

Seventeen-year-old Indian chess prodigy Md Imran lost his passport and visas in Slovakia, creating a US visa crisis that threatens his full scholarship at the University of Texas at Rio Grande Valley amid a January 2027 deadline.

He is just one Grandmaster norm away from the title.

He faces mounting family debt of Rs 50 lakh and bureaucratic hurdles that could derail his chess and academic plans.