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KOLKATA: The new year brought happy news for Bengal chess as Koustav Chatterjee became the country’s 78th Grandmaster late on Saturday night. The Kolkata boy took the state’s GM count to double digits by drawing with statemate GM Mirtabha Guha, who incidentally was Bengal’s last and ninth GM, in Round 10 of the National chess championship in New Delhi.
Things have changed fast for the 19-year-old boy since the Covid pandemic. It was during the lockdown that the youngster felt the need for a strong body along with a sound mind. He started regular exercise to shed almost 50 kg and a chubby look.
On the chess front too, things started to happen just when he thought of focusing more on his studies and seriously working on becoming an IAS officer, as per his mother Babita’s wishes, who is a state government employee. He scored almost 95 per cent marks in his Class 12 board examination earlier this year.
Post the lockdown, Koustav earned his first GM norm in October 2021 at Sheikh Russel GM’s meet in Bangladesh. He followed it up with his second GM norm at the Asian championship in the first week of November this year. He was waiting for his third norm after crossing the Fide magic rating of 2500 in August.
“I feel I could have become a GM earlier if I could have participated in some overseas tournaments. But I waited for my opportunity,” he told TOI from Delhi on Sunday.
Introduced to the game by his father Kalyan, Koustav was instantly attracted to it as he started playing in 2010. He earned his International Master (IM) title in 2019 but his father could not see his son make the next grade as he passed away last year.
Although not having any coach now, the youngster got good support from the Dhanuka Dhunseri Dibyendu Barua Chess Academy since his association with them in 2015.
Koustav will take the next big leap this year when he will travel to University of Texas on a full scholarship. “I have to play for them too, but my studies will also be covered,” he stated.
Bengal GMs: Dibyendu Barua, Surya Sekhar Ganguly, Sandipan Chanda, Neelotpal Das, Deep Sengupta, Saptarshi Roy Chowdhury, Diptayan Ghosh, Saptarshi Roy, Mitrabha Guha, Koustav Chatterjee.
Things have changed fast for the 19-year-old boy since the Covid pandemic. It was during the lockdown that the youngster felt the need for a strong body along with a sound mind. He started regular exercise to shed almost 50 kg and a chubby look.
On the chess front too, things started to happen just when he thought of focusing more on his studies and seriously working on becoming an IAS officer, as per his mother Babita’s wishes, who is a state government employee. He scored almost 95 per cent marks in his Class 12 board examination earlier this year.
Post the lockdown, Koustav earned his first GM norm in October 2021 at Sheikh Russel GM’s meet in Bangladesh. He followed it up with his second GM norm at the Asian championship in the first week of November this year. He was waiting for his third norm after crossing the Fide magic rating of 2500 in August.
“I feel I could have become a GM earlier if I could have participated in some overseas tournaments. But I waited for my opportunity,” he told TOI from Delhi on Sunday.
Introduced to the game by his father Kalyan, Koustav was instantly attracted to it as he started playing in 2010. He earned his International Master (IM) title in 2019 but his father could not see his son make the next grade as he passed away last year.
Although not having any coach now, the youngster got good support from the Dhanuka Dhunseri Dibyendu Barua Chess Academy since his association with them in 2015.
Koustav will take the next big leap this year when he will travel to University of Texas on a full scholarship. “I have to play for them too, but my studies will also be covered,” he stated.
Bengal GMs: Dibyendu Barua, Surya Sekhar Ganguly, Sandipan Chanda, Neelotpal Das, Deep Sengupta, Saptarshi Roy Chowdhury, Diptayan Ghosh, Saptarshi Roy, Mitrabha Guha, Koustav Chatterjee.
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