A few months back, 16-year-old Akshay Borgaonkar from Pune became an International Master. He earned both his final IM norm and his maiden GM norm at the SixDays Budapest March GM-A Round Robin tournament, scoring an impressive 7/9. Soon after that, he also scored a phenomenal 98% in his Class 10 CBSE exams! While many young athletes are forced to choose between their passion and academics, Akshay, with the right mindset and time management, has shown that it is possible to pursue both and excel. In this article, he shares exactly how he managed to do it. So, read on to learn from his journey in his own words! Photo: Shahid Ahmed