All posts tagged: india grandmasters

Ethan Vaz, Harshvardhan GB earn GM titles

Ethan Vaz, Harshvardhan GB earn GM titles

Published by Webster

India added two more chess Grandmasters to its ever growing tally as Ethan Vaz and Harshvardhan G.B. became the country’s 96th and 97th GM respectively. 🚨 #News | 2 GMs in 2 Days.♟️ Ethan Vaz and Harshavardhan G.B. join the elite list of Indian Grandmasters as the country’s 96th and 97th title holders. Ethan secured his final GM norm at the Chess Summer in Sarajevo at the GM Mix tournament in Bosnia and Herzegovina. While… pic.twitter.com/0vwRrUOUbk — The Bridge (@the_bridge_in) June 30, 2026 Vaz, who is just 14 years old, achieved the feat late on Saturday night, when he earned his third and final grandmaster norm at a tournament called Chess Summer in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Having started to compete in tournaments abroad just three years back, Vaz earned his first GM norm last year in October. He earned his second norm in January earlier this year during a tournament in Serbia. Meanwhile, Harshvardhan, aged 22, attained his third and final norm 2nd Chola Chess GM Norm Round Robin Tournament in front of his home …

Why Aronyak Ghosh’s chess career mattered more to father Mrinal, than holding onto ancestral properties | Chess News

Why Aronyak Ghosh’s chess career mattered more to father Mrinal, than holding onto ancestral properties | Chess News

Published by Webster

It’s been just over a decade, but Mrinal Ghosh vividly remembers the years when his family had to resort to selling off ancestral properties to help their son Aronyak chase his dream on the chess board. Those were some of the hardest decisions Mrinal and his wife Sanchita made—after all his son was not even an International Master back then. But when he looks back at them now, Mrinal’s glad he made those tough choices. For, those hard calls, taken by the gut feel of a father, have now given India its 95th grandmaster. Indian chess is littered with tales of parental sacrifices. Some have given up flourishing careers to be full-time chaperones for teenage prodigies. Others have had to dig deep into their savings to punt on their kids. But by any standard, the sacrifices that Aronyak’s parents made to propel him stand out. “We started selling off ancestral properties in 2014 or 2015, when he started to show some promise in chess. Chota-chota karke becha (We sold it little by little). By the …

Aronyak Ghosh finally becomes India’s 95th GM, four years after his first norm | Chess News

Aronyak Ghosh finally becomes India’s 95th GM, four years after his first norm | Chess News

Published by Webster

2 min readUpdated: Apr 19, 2026 11:31 PM IST Aronyak Ghosh became India’s 95th GM after 4 years of his first GM norm. The Kolkata chess player achieved his final norm at Bangkok Chess Club Open finishing tied for first place with 7/9. Known for unleashing new openings, when he is bored and for boggling Hans Niemann once, he has been a mystery in Indian chess. He had won the bronze at U16s, World Youth, and ChessBase reported that his father, a former chess player (1550), and now a chess arbiter, kept Aronyak’s chess dream alive by selling off family belongings and property. His mother is a lawyer. He has been coached earlier by Bangladeshi coach Zeo Sir and at Elephant academy, while learnt endgames at RB Ramesh and Dejan Bojkoblv. At the second IM normal he had said, “I’m quite bored actually.. the guys come quite prepared…so I say let’s try new openings on the board.” The 22-year-old had emerged in the news in 2023 when he won bronze at the Pune Nationals when …