Who is Aronyak Ghosh, India’s newest grandmaster from Kolkata?

The news of 22-year-old Aronyak Ghosh becoming the 95^th Grandmaster of India marks an eventful week for the country’s chess fraternity. It started with R. Vaishali winning the Candidates event to qualify for the FIDE Women’s World Championship tie while A.S. Sharvaanica clinched the FIDE Under-12 Rapid title.

Patience finally paid for Aronyak, the Kolkata-based youngster, who had to wait for four years for the third and final norm after his first GM norm came at the Sants Open in 2023 and the second one at the Annemasse Masters in 2024. The much-awaited moment came when he finished tied for the top spot (seven out of nine points) at the Bangkok Chess Club Open on Sunday.

Son of a former chess player and now arbiter Mrinal Ghosh and a lawyer mother, Aronyak grew up in a middle class family and started his journey with a bronze at Under-16 World Youth Championship. Known for unleashing new openings when he is bored and for boggling Hans Niemann once, he had been bit of an enigma in Indian chess.

‘’It is entirely a relief,’’ Aronyak’s mother, Sanchita Ghosh, told TimesofIndia.com from Bangkok. ‘’As parents, after leaving everything behind, even setting aside academics, this is a huge relief for us. It means that what we committed to has finally succeeded,’’ she added. Now a graduation student with Prafulla Chandra College, Aronyak is employed with South Eastern Railway – a job which has made his pursuit easier.

He has been coached earlier by Bangladeshi coach Zeo Sir and at Elephant academy, while learnt endgames at RB Ramesh and Dejan Bojkoblv. “I’m quite bored actually.. the guys come quite prepared…so I say let’s try new openings on the board,” Aronyak told the media after winning his second norm. A major breakthrough for him came when he qualified for the FIDE World Cup 2025 where he beat Poland’s Mateusz Bartel in the opening round before bowing out to Levon Aronian. He is ranked 401 in the world, with a standard rating of 2533.

Unlike many players who are uneasy facing lower-rated opposition in India, Aronyak embraced the challenge of competing in Indian Grandmaster opens and capitalising on the prize money. This ability earned him a welcome consistency and helped his rise to a 2550-rating.

Only last month, he became India’s national Rapid Champion and the GM title now marks a major breakthrough that the Ghosh family had been desperately looking for.