page_title: Surya Shekhar Ganguly
section_title: Early career
hierarchical_section_title: Surya Shekhar Ganguly / Early career
caption_attribution_description: English: Childhood photo
context_page_description: Surya Shekhar Ganguly is an Indian chess grandmaster. His peak ELO rating was 2676. 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. In addition, in team competitions he has won 12 gold, 4 silver and 3 bronze medals. Some of his recent achievements are winning individual gold in Hunan International Open, individual gold in World Team Championship in Astana, Kazakhstan, gold in National Team Championship Kolkata, bronze in Binhai International Open, China and bronze in Asian Team Championship in both Classical and Rapid in Iran.
  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 and Asian champion in 2009.
context_section_description: Ganguly's grand father, the late Anil Basumallick, taught him chess at the age of 5. Soon he became very popular in chess circles of Kolkata as he was the youngest player in most tournaments taking place during those days and also won prizes. In 1991, at the age of 8, he won both the Indian National U-10 and U-12 Championships. He won these Championships again in 1992 and 1995.
  The following are his achievements in the World Youth Chess Championship in his age categories:
  World U-10 Championship, Warsaw 1991: Won bronze medal in his first foreign trip, at the age of 8.
  World U-10 Championship, Duisburg 1992: He was leading ahead of future stars such as Grischuk, Bacrot and Vallejo Pons only to falter in the last two rounds to finish 6th.
  World U-10 Championship, Bratislava 1993: Shared bronze medal with Jakovenko, ahead of Grishchuk.
  World U-12 Championship, Szeged 1994: Shared bronze medal with Ponomariev, Vallejo Pons behind Levon Aronian and Bacrot, and ahead of Grishchuk.
  World U-12 Championship, St. Lorenzo 1995: Won silver medal behind Bacrot.
  In 1995, at the age of 11, he beat a Grandmaster, the youngest player ever to do so until that time.
caption: childhood photo
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