Koustav Chatterjee became India’s 78th Grandmaster (GM) in MPL 59th National Senior Chess Championship in New Delhi on Saturday. At the National Senior Chess Championships in New Delhi, the 19-year-old boy drew the game against GM Mitrabha Guha.
The ninth GM from West Bengal, Mitrabha Guha could have gone for a win, but Koustav cruised through the game and mixed up the order in the endgame and managed to draw it to secure his final GM norm. With the win, the Kolkata boy became West Bengal’s tenth Grandmaster.
Koustav started playing chess in 2010 and earned the International Master (IM) title in 2019. A bright student, he cleared CBSE exams from South Point High School in 2022 with 98% of marks from the commerce section. He managed his chess and studies well on his journey from IM to GM title. He earned his maiden GM-norm in 2021 October at Sheikh Russel GM 2021 in Bangladesh. He appeared for his Class 12 board examinations in the first half of 2022. The teenager continued playing chess through these times and even participated in a tournament. In November 2022, he scored his second GM-norm at Asian Continental Championship 2022. He crossed 2500 in the August FIDE rating list.
