NEW DELHI: On Saturday morning, Rajib Dhar, the general secretary of the All Assam Chess Association, was having a good sleep. And why not? His protégé, Mayank Chakraborty, had just secured his final Grandmaster (GM) norm at the 8th GM Tournament in Sweden. In doing so, the 16-year-old became the first-ever Grandmaster from Assam and Northeast India, and the 94th overall for the country.The bedtime, however, didn’t last. Dhar felt a thud and heard a faint but extremely familiar voice: “Papa?” Papa?” It was Dhar’s little girl, clutching a chessboard close to her chest.“She doesn’t have a very strong interest in chess yet, but today, she tells me, ‘Papa, you teach me too, as you did with Mayank Dada. I will also become the first WGM (Woman Grandmaster) from Assam. If Mayank Dada can do it, then I can do it too,'” Dhar told TimesofIndia.com during an exclusive conversation.
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A spark in Pandu
Mayank, born in 2009, was around seven when his mother, Dr Monomita Chakraborty, a gynaecologist, reached out to Dhar via Messenger.She, settled in Pandu (a small locality in Guwahati), was looking for someone nearby to guide her restless son through the basics of chess. Dhar, who is also from the same place and has trained Assam’s star International Master (IM) Shahil Dey, agreed.“In the beginning, his tactical skills were great, but he was a bit impatient and very restless, as kids that age are. But he later developed himself beautifully,” Dhar recalled.Mayank, now 16, soon started flaunting his skills over the board in the domestic circuit, becoming a three-time national champion across various age categories.“He has that high confidence level; he’s never afraid of who is sitting across the board,” Dhar said.
Mayank Chakraborty (Special Arrangements)
Sensing Mayank’s innate potential of becoming a GM, Dhar asked for some financial help from the All India Chess Federation (AICF) president Nitin Narang last year.“We just asked our AICF president, Nitin Narang, regarding sponsorship,” he revealed. “We told him he has the talent to become a Grandmaster, so we need a sponsor. He immediately said, ‘Okay, I will give Rs 2.5 lakh for his next tournaments.'”The investment paid off quite beautifully, it can be said.
The Mother’s Gambit
However, as the saying goes, behind every successful man, there is a woman. For Mayank, that woman is Monomita. To call her “dedicated” would be an understatement.Dhar still recalls a moment that perfectly encapsulates her sacrifice.“I remember going to give a ChessBase pendrive to her. She was in the middle of a surgery, and she came out for a second with her gloves still stained with blood just to make sure Mayank got his materials,” Dhar revealed.When she was on night duty at the hospital, Mayank would often be in the ward room, practising his lines while his mother worked.
Mayank Chakraborty playing with black pieces (Special Arrangements)
Nevertheless, the balancing act eventually became impossible. In 2022, Monomita left her government job to travel full-time with her son.“There was no one else to take Mayank to tournaments,” Dhar shared. “His mother’s dedication is tremendous. She left everything because chess was the number one priority for them. This achievement is completely because of her.”Monomita explained how her husband used to accompany their son, before she started to travel full-time. “My husband, Keshab Chakraborty, used to work at Airtel. In the early days of Mayank’s journey, I couldn’t travel much because I was still working until 2022. So initially, it was my husband who accompanied him to tournaments,” Monomita told TimesofIndia.com from Sweden.She further explained why travelling with her son became a necessity, adding, “Later, after my father-in-law passed away, we had some family difficulties, and my husband couldn’t travel as much anymore. That’s when I started accompanying Mayank. At one point, Mayank also faced some health problems; he developed sinusitis and severe allergies.“The cold, especially when we travel abroad, often triggers his cold allergy. Sometimes he needs medical attention, and managing that in a foreign country can be quite difficult and expensive for us. So in those situations, it became important for me to be there with him and accompany him during his travels.”
Culmination of a quest
For Monomita, the victory in Sweden is the culmination of a quest that was as much about regional pride as it was about individual excellence.“Since 1988, when Viswanathan Anand became India’s first GM, Assam and the entire Northeast have been waiting,” Monomita told this website.“When Mayank started serious chess, his only aim was: ‘I will be the first Grandmaster from Assam and the Northeast.’ With this motivation, we progressed.”The path was not linear. The COVID-19 pandemic halted their momentum for two years, and the transition from International Master (IM) to Grandmaster proved to be a psychological mountain.
Mayank Chakraborty (Special Arrangements)
Between August 2023 and early 2026, Mayank’s rating fluctuated wildly.“That was a demotivating phase,” Monomita admitted. “He was a bit skeptical because when you play too forcefully or aggressively, you lose rating points. I told him, ‘Once you touch 2500, the rest is just a matter of months.’ There was a threshold, maybe a moment of self-doubt. Once he passed that, he performed brilliantly in Prague and then Sweden.”In Sweden, Mayank secured the norm with a round to spare. The final round was a mere formality, a victory lap for a boy who had spent half his life chasing sixty-four squares.
Mother’s call for support
While the GM title is now a reality, the financial reality of elite chess is a different story. The Chakraborty family has exhausted their savings, liquidating Fixed Deposits to fund trips to Europe where the most competitive tournaments are held.“Chess is very expensive and time-consuming,” Monomita admitted. “It’s not like other sports where you keep your ‘belt’ forever. In chess, one second of lost focus and your rating, your pride, is gone. To reach 2600, he needs to play in elite tournaments against the top 20 players in the world. But that requires significant funds.”
Mayank Chakraborty (Special Arrangements)
The infrastructure in the Northeast, while improving through initiatives like the Khel Mahotsav, still lacks the corporate backing found in states like Tamil Nadu or Maharashtra.“I have reached a level where I have to choose priorities. My son is doing something for Assam as a whole,” Monomita said, her voice a mix of pride and urgency.ALSO READ: India gets first WIM from Northeast: How 15-year-old Arshiya Das is rewriting chess geography“I’ve liquidated what I could from my government job savings. Now, his future depends on government help and corporate support. My son has the capacity, and he believes in himself. If people believe in him, I will just follow him and let him continue his journey.”Back in Guwahati, children will be waking up their parents, chessboards in hand, ready to follow the path the 94th Grandmaster has finally cleared.
