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Various twists in the history of Indian chess took place when 17-year-old Mayank Chakraborty of Guwahati, Assam, became the first-ever Indian Grandmaster of the Northeast. In early 2026, the teenager won his last GM norm in an international tournament and reached the 2500 FIDE rating mark and met all the criteria to achieve the three GM norms.

The trip came when Mayank was six years old in Guwahati with local coaches. He had already secured IM title in 2024 and has demonstrated that he is improving fast with good results in Asian and national shows. This feat qualifies him to be the third GM of Assam to succeed Pran Nath and Akshat Chandra though it is the first in the whole Northeast (eight states in all).

Players and referees at Chess celebrated the event as a breakthrough for the underrepresented region, which encouraged thousands of young players. Mayank thanked his family, coaches, and the All India Chess Federation. His triumph brings out the emerging depth of chess in other parts of India besides the traditional chess centers such as Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, and Delhi, as the number of GMs in India has now hit 85. Legends such as Viswanathan Anand and the chess fraternity in the country came out to congratulate him.