Surya Shekhar Ganguly

Surya Shekhar Ganguly (born 24 February 1983) is an Indian chess grandmaster. His peak ELO rating was 2676 (July 2016). Ganguly became an International Master at the age of 16 and a grandmaster at the age of 19.

He has won 40 individual gold, 21 individual silver and 6 individual bronze medals in National as well as International tournaments. He was also the captain of the Indian team in the Asian Nations Online Cup 2020 which won the 2nd place. In addition, in team competitions he has won 12 gold, four silver and three bronze medals. Some of his recent achievements are winning individual gold in Hunan International Open (2019), individual gold in World Team Championship in Astana, Kazakhstan (2019), gold in National Team Championship Kolkata (2019), bronze in Binhai International Open, China (2018) and bronze in Asian Team Championship in both Classical and Rapid in Iran (2018).

The government of India has awarded him the prestigious Arjuna Award in 2005 for his outstanding achievement in sports. He was awarded ″Bangabhusan″, the second-highest civilian award of West Bengal, in 2015. He was also awarded the "Khel Samman" award in 2013 from the Government of West Bengal and the "Shera Bangali" award in 2009 as the best Sportsperson of Bengal.

He was six-time National champion (2003–2008) and Asian champion in 2009. He worked in the team of seconds that assisted Viswanathan Anand in winning the World Championship matches against Vladimir Kramnik, Veselin Topalov and Boris Gelfand in 2008, 2010 and 2012, respectively.

In 2024, a film inspired from his life named Dabaru was released. The director of the film is Pathikrit Basu.

Achievements Ganguly has played numerous individual and team tournaments, both national and international. He has won total 40 individual gold, 21 individual silver and 6 individual bronze medals in National as well as International tournaments and as a member of team he has won 12 gold, 4 silver and 3 bronze medals. He achieved his IM (International Master) title at Goodricke International, Kolkata 2000 and the GM (Grand Master) title at the 35th Chess Olympiad, Bled 2002. Some of his notable achievements are given here.

National events The President Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam presenting the Arjuna Award -2005 to Shri Surya Shekhar Ganguly for Chess, at a glittering function in New Delhi on August 29, 2006

In addition to the National U10 and U12 championships mentioned above, Ganguly's achievements in other national events are:

National Cities 1999: His team won the championship. National "B" 1999: Ganguly won this championship at the age of 16. National Junior 1999/2000: Champion National "A": He won the Indian National Championship for a record six consecutive times from 2003 to 2008. National Team: His team won the championship in 2001, 2002 and 2007 Gold in National 'A' 2003 National Rapid 2005: Champion Gold in National Team 2007 Gold in 45th National 'A' 2008 Gold in 46th National 'A' 2008 Gold in National Team Championship, Kanpur, 2014 Gold in National Team Championship, Goa, 2015 Gold in National Team Championship Bhubaneswar, 2017 Gold in National Team Championship Kolkata, 2018 Gold in National Team 2019

Asian events Bronze in Asian Continental Championship, 2001 Asian Zonal: silver in 2001, gold in 2003 and 2007. Asian Team Chess Championship: his team India won silver in 2003, 2007 and 2008, gold in 2005 (also an individual gold) and 2009. Asian Indoor Games 2007: two silver medals and a gold medal. Gold medal in Asian Continental Championship, 2009 Asian Games 2010: played for bronze medal-winning Indian team, scoring +4=4-0 (four wins, four draws, no losses) Silver in Asian Continental Championship, 2015 (tied for first with Salem A. R. Saleh, placing second on tiebreak). Asian Indoor Games Bronze medal. Turkmenistan, 2017. 4th in Asian Championship, Philippines, 2018 Bronze in Asian Team Championship Classical, 2018 He won his GM title at the 35th Olympiad in Slovenia 2002 and his team India got the 6th position at the 36th Olympiad in Spain 2004. World Team Chess Championship 2010: His team India won bronze and he won the individual gold for himself.

Other international tournaments

Goodricke International 2000: Won IM title World Junior 2002: Bronze Gibtel International 2004: Second Delhi International 2004: Joint Champion Kolkata Open 2004: Joint Champion Amsterdam International 2004: Second Bangladesh International 2005: Champion ONGC International 2006: Champion Commonwealth Open: After winning Gold (Junior) in 2000 and 2003/2004, he went on to win Silver in the Open in 2007 and 2008. Sydney International 2008: Champion Canberra International 2008: Second Parsvanath International: After winning silver in 2008, he won gold in the tournament in 2009. Indonesia Open Chess Championship 2011: Joint winner with Li Chao, ahead of Wang Yue, Dreev, Tkachiev and others. Fujairah INT Masters Tournament 2012: Won this strong Open tournament in UAE ahead of 30 GM's, including several 2700+ players such as Jobava, Le Quang, Bacrot and Moiseenko. LIC 2nd International Grand Masters Chess Tournament 2015: Won this tournament in Kolkata, India ahead of Nigel Short and 25 other GM's. Member of the winning team of the Spanish League 2015, Solvay, along with teammates Pentala Harikrishna, Baskaran Adhiban, Aleksander Delchev, Sergio Cacho Reigadas, Jesús de la Villa, and Elizbar Ubilava. 2015 Edmonton International: Equal second with Ivanchuk and Wang Hao behind the winner Harikrishna. 2015 Thai Open Chess Championship: Equal first with Nigel Short and Gragun Kamil ahead of Wang Hao, Vallejo Pons etc. O2C Doeberl Cup 2015 Premier: Equal second with Johansen behind Zhou Weiki but ahead of Van Wely etc. 25th Keres Memorial 2016: Equal second with Gelfand and Howell behind Kovalenko but ahead of Svidler, Vitiugov, Matlakov, Eljanov etc. 11th Edmonton International-Main 2016: Equal first with Shankland, ahead of Shirov, Sethuraman etc. 16th Bangkok Chess Club Open 2016: Won ahead of Vallejo Pons, Nigel Short, Loek van Wely, etc. 2016 O2C Doeberl Cup Premier: Second ahead of Hrant Melkumyan on tie-break. 2017 O2C Doeberl Cup Premier: Won with a score of 8/9 ahead of Krasenkow, Zhao Zong-Yuan etc. Bronze in Binhai International Open, China, 2018

Personal life

He was born to Pankaj Ganguly and Aarti Ganguly on 24 February 1983. He has an elder sister who is a doctor. He is working as Senior Manager at the Indian Oil Corporation. He married Sudeshna Dutta, a doctor in biotechnology, in 2011. They have two children - a daughter and a son.

Notable games

Anand vs Ganguly Yu Yangi vs Ganguly Mareco Sandro vs Ganguly Carlsen vs Ganguly Ganguly vs Svidler

Sample game The following game is from 11th Edmonton International Tournament 2016, a 10-player round robin event. Ganguly (White) was paired against Alexei Shirov (Black) in the last round. It was a must-win situation for both players, Ganguly to finish equal first with Shankland and Shirov to finish equal second with Ganguly.