16-year-old Mayank Chakraborty ends North-East’s long wait for a Chess Grandmaster
At the age of six, Mayank Chakraborty took up chess, and when things didn’t go too well for him in tournament play, it made him change his mind. He tried his hand at badminton but it wasn’t smooth sailing there either. He shifted back to the 64-square game and hasn’t looked back since.
Mayank became India’s 94th Grandmaster, the first-ever from Assam and the North-East to achieve the title, after winning a tournament in Stockholm recently.
Tracing the journey, his mother Monomita Chakraborty, a gynaecologist, said he developed a passion for the game, improved rapidly and began winning medals.
“He won a silver medal in the under-9 Open Nationals and followed it up by becoming the under-11 National champion. He landed a silver in the under-10 open section in the Asian Youth tournament in Sri Lanka in 2019 and made winning a habit,” Monomita told Sportstar.
Later, he won the under-17 Nationals twice, and his career was looking up. His improvement and the unavailability of coaches in Guwahati meant the family had to look outside for someone to train Mayank.
“He was trained initially by GM Saptarshi Roy Chowdhury and GM Swayams Mishra for the past five years or so,” she said.
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About her role, Monomita said, “I have been a supporter so that he could realise his dream to be the first GM from Assam and the entire North-East. India boasts of 93 GMs but Assam and North-East had been waiting for its GM for almost three decades since Viswanathan Anand became the first in 1988.”
Mishra said “Mayank’s journey to becoming a Grandmaster is truly the result of many years of hard work, dedication, and strong support from his family. It has been very satisfying to watch his progress — from a young and talented child to a mature, strong, and determined player. I expect him to go ahead and cross the 2600 Elo mark at the earliest possible opportunity.
Published on Mar 16, 2026