Bengaluru: When Mayank Chakraborty was six, his mother, Dr Monomita, a gynaecologist, had to take him along to Tolaram Bafna hospital in Guwahati where she worked since there was no one at home to watch him. It was the day chess was chosen for him.
While Monomita was away for patient consultations, her colleague, an ENT specialist, looked after him in the doctor’s room. When she returned, the fellow doctor had a ready suggestion: “Your boy has a sharp mind and a restless body. Get him to play chess.”
Though not entirely convinced, Monomita signed him up for classes at an NGO that ran a chess club. The first tournament he played as a six-year-old didn’t go well. Not too long after, Mayank declared that he was done with chess and wanted to play badminton instead.
It was around the time PV Sindhu delivered a sizzling turn for Indian badminton with her 2016 Olympic silver. Monomita and her husband, Keshab, took turns ferrying Mayank to early morning training sessions at a nearby academy. He would return from them sullen since he was asked to run laps while his spanking new racket sat untouched. “Mayank was a plump boy,” Monomita says, “So the coach felt he needed to get physically fit first.” Tired of the punitive laps and hitting shuttle against the wall, Mayank decided badminton wasn’t for him and chess re-entered his life. This time, it was different.
In Stockholm this weekend, 16-year-old Mayank, a student of Class 11, became India’s 94th and North East India’s first Grandmaster. He scored his final GM norm in the Hotel Stockholm North by First Hotels young Talents tournament. He won the tournament with a rating performance of 2670 and touched a live rating of 2508 Elo. He is only the second International Master from the North East. Shahil Dey, also from Assam, became the region’s first International Master in 2021. “It was Mayank’s goal to become the first GM from the Northeast. Since the purpose was larger, the motivation was perhaps greater. It was challenging for the family to get here. But he’s finally a GM now, and it’s only the beginning,” Monomita told HT from Stockholm.
Mayank remarkably won the Under-17 national title twice and was 12 when he won it the first time. In 2023, he became an International Master.
With no chess ecosystem in the region, the Chakrabortys had to pay players from other parts of the country to travel to Guwahati and spar with Mayank. The first time they had a player over was in 2018. Mayank also hosted GMs Saptarshi Roy Chowdhury and Swayams Mishra, from Bengal and Odisha, for individual camps. “I preferred to have GMs from neighbouring states over because, apart from travel costs working out relatively cheaper, a commonality in food habits helps. If I’m asked to prepare perfect dosas and uthappams, I might be in a fix,” Monomita laughs.
Both travelling to tournaments from Guwahati and hosting Grandmasters for training sessions is an expensive proposition, and with no sponsors in sight, it took the generosity of a few individuals and organisations – namely Mrityunjay Jalan of Jalan Industries, Group e4, and ChessBase India’s HelpChess initiative – to cover costs. Recently, Viswanathan Anand’s WACA set him up for a couple of sessions with Boris Gelfand.
A tenacious attacker who’s all for active piece play, Mayank has slain some of the demons of self-doubt, GM Mishra believes. “He earlier believed his attack was nowhere as good as his positional play. I think he trusts himself a lot more now. His killer instinct is terrific and he can go a long way if he holds on to his strengths.”
Through Mayank’s journey, Monomita has been the parent who sets work aside and travels with him to tournaments, spends hours around quiet, freezing playing halls, and makes countless trips to the state government sports office seeking financial help – the latter with little luck.
“I’ve already liquidated most of my fixed deposits for Mayank’s chess,” says Monomita. “We’re hoping his GM title will help call attention.”
