Surya Shekhar Ganguly is a famous Indian chess Grandmaster born on 24th February in 1983. He is a chess prodigy from Kolkata in West Bengal. He started his chess training from an early age of 5 and achieved tremendous success at the National Junior and World Junior Levels when he was 8 years old. He too became one of the youngest players to beat a grandmaster at the age of 11.

Ganguly became an International Master at 16 and a Grandmaster at 19. He has won a host of national and international tournaments including the Indian National Championship for a record six consecutive years from 2003-2008 and the Asian Championship in 2009. He was awarded the Arjuna Award in 2005 by the Government of India for his outstanding achievement in sports. He worked in the team of seconds that assisted Viswanathan Anand in winning the World title matches against Kramnik in 2008 and Topalov in 2010

Personal life of Surya Shekhar Ganguly
Surya Shekhar was born to Mrs. Arati Ganguly and Mr. Pankaj Ganguly on 24th February 1983. He has an elder sister too who is currently serving as a doctor. He is working as Deputy Manager at the Indian Oil Corporation. He got married to his childhood sweetheart Sudeshna on February 7, 2011.

Career of Surya Shekhar Ganguly
Ganguly learned the basics of chess from his grandfather, Late Mr. Anil Basumallick. Soon from a very young age he grabbed eyeballs in chess circles of Kolkata. Since, he was one of the youngest players in most tournaments and winning the same, so many appreciated his talent. 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.

He represented Indian chess team in every Chess Olympiads since 2000. In the year 2002, he won the title of Grandmaster at the 35th Olympiad in Slovenia. India finished at 6th position the best ever, at the 36th Olympiad in Spain 2004.

India won bronze and won individual gold for himself at the World Team Chess Championship.

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 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.

Notable Achievements of Surya Shekhar Ganguly
Ganguly has over the years participated in many group and individual games, both at national and international matches. He achieved the international master title at Goodricke International, Kolkata 2000 and the GM (Grand Master) title at the 35th Chess Olympiad, Bled 2002.

National Events
In addition to the National U10 and U12 championships mentioned above, Ganguly`s achievements in other national events are as under.
* National "A": He won the Indian National Championship for a record six consecutive years from 2003-2008, after which he has stopped playing this event.
* National Team: His team won the championship in 2001, 2002 and 2007
* National Rapid 2005: Champion
* National Junior 1999/2000: Champion
* National Cities 1999: His team won the championship.
* National "B" 1999: Ganguly won this championship at the age of 16 and never looked back.

Asian Events
* Asian Games 2010: His team India won bronze, his personal score being four wins and four draws with no losses.
* Asian Individual: After winning bronze in 2001, he became the Asian Champion in 2009.
* Asian Team: His team India won silver in 2003 and 2008 and gold in 2005 (including an individual gold for him) and 2009.
* Asian Indoor Games 2007: He won two silver medals and a gold medal.
* Asian Zonal: After winning silver in 2001, he won the championship in 2003 and 2007.

Other International Tournaments
* Parsvanath International: After winning silver in 2008, he won gold in the tournament in 2009.
* 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
* ONGC International 2006: Champion
* Bangladesh International 2005: Champion
* Kolkata Open 2004: Joint Champion
* Amsterdam International 2004: Second
* Delhi International 2004: Joint Champion
* Gibtel International 2004: Second
* World Junior 2002: Bronze
* Goodricke International 2000: Won IM title