From No Laptop to Chess World Cup Dreams: Exclusive Interview with GM Pranesh M
For India, he is yet another prodigy proving his worth in the world of chess. For the Northeast, it’s a tectonic shift.“We are very happy because we know that she is really very dedicated to chess. It has been her dream for a long time to become a national champion. In November last year, she became the under-15 national champion. Then she won a bronze medal in the 2025 Senior National Women’s Championship, which is a big tournament. We saw that she was at her peak. So we planned to send her to Europe because all the norms there Da Purnendas told Arsshi TimesofIndia.com during exclusive interaction.
Arshiya Das (special arrangement)
“She also has her 10th board exams next year so things are tight. We planned it before and sent her. She passed two standards, one in the first week of January and this was the final standard.”Arshiya’s story began at the breakfast tableAs a constellation of Indian prodigies, Arshiya, born in March 2010, did not start in an academy or under a master coach. Rather, it started with her parents trying to get their child to eat breakfast and get ready for school.“That was around 2015. You know, when you have to get kids to eat breakfast before you send them off to school, you have to give them something in their hand, like a laptop or a cell phone. So we’d give her a laptop to have a proper breakfast,” her father recalled.
Arshiya Das (special arrangement)
“When she opened the laptop, Windows defaulted to a chess game. She used to sit with it. Then one day she saw a chessboard in the mall and said, ‘This is the thing I saw on the laptop, I need it.’ So I bought her a board. From there, her interest slowly grew.”From citizens under 7 to global exposureAt the age of six, she finished in the top 10 in national under-7 competitions. However, to improve her score, she participated in the same tournament the next year in 2017 and won bronze. The progress in a year was truly noticeable and made the Das family look at Arshiya’s potential through a sharper, more thoughtful lens.“It was the first time anyone from Tripura won a bronze and was selected for the World Cadet and Asian Youths to represent India,” her father added with palpable pride.International exposure such as gold and bronze medals in Uzbekistan followed and representation at the World Cadet Championships in Spain ensured her steady progression through the Indian age group hierarchy.
Arshiya Das (special arrangement)
When COVID shut down the circuit, Arshiya started playing online with an unpredictable obsession.“She played about 400-500 online tournaments during COVID and became champion in many of them. She used the COVID very well,” said Purnendu.Training all over IndiaFor a chess player in the Northeast, geography is the first opponent, not who sits at the other end of the board. For elite training, one has to travel to Chennai, Kolkata or Delhi. Agartala is an afterthought.“Coming from the northeast, coaching was always a problem. We had to go to Kolkata, Chennai or Delhi,” admitted her father.And that is perhaps why her coaching journey includes local mentors Ramesh Koloi and Pradip Chaudhary, Apollosana Rajkumar in Manipur, FM Prasenjit Dutta, GM Saptarshi Roy Chowdhury in Kolkata and the Gurukul system under GM RB Ramesh and WGM Aarthi in Chennai.Today, he trains with IM Kaustav Kundu and GM Swayams Mishra, attends Chola Chess Academy camps and takes online lessons with GM Jacob Aagaard Killer Chess Training.A family with a purposeArshiya’s story is inseparable from her family’s sacrifices. Her father is an engineer. Her mother, Arnesha Das, stepped back from her own ambitions to help the ambitions of their only child.“She wanted to join the Tripura Civil Service but sacrificed herself to support Arshiya,” her father told the website.
Arshiya Das Family (Special Arrangements)
They live in government quarters in Agartala.“She studies at Holy Cross School, ICSE board, very tough. But the school supports her a lot with special notes and special classes. She missed her class 9 exam because of under 15 nationals but the school promoted her and asked her to focus on board exams next year,” revealed Mr. Das.In the midst of hardships…The Das family is well aware of the financial burden of constantly improving ratings.“We are dependent on government work. Flights from Agartala to Chennai are very expensive. He has been playing since 2015, for 11 years. So it was already a huge expense,” he added.“She once had a problem with her laptop. Sagar Shah (of ChessBase India) helped her and got her a specially designed laptop for chess players. After that, her performance increased by 50-60%. Before that, she was using a Rs 35,000 laptop since 2016, but the battery was changed four times.”But even in the midst of hardship, people always came forward to help their cause.Deepa Karmakarher coach and many othersDipa Karmakar, the Olympic gymnast who put the city on the global sports map, is now the sports director of the state. She and her trainer Bishweshwar Nandi personally trained Arshiya physically.In 2021, Arshiya received the Prime Minister’s Rashtriya Bal Puraskar for becoming the first and only girl chess player from the Northeast to win an international gold medal.
PM Modi interacting with Arshiya Das (Special arrangement)
But the journey does not end with WIM’s latest title, as her current European tour is stitched together as a low-cost airline itinerary.“We have planned five tournaments in one trip to save costs and her mother is with her. After playing all five, she will return to Agartala on March 2,” Purnendu added.“Certainly we are very happy and in our state also the people who are associated with us, Mr. Sports Minister, they are all very happy that she is the first among the North East girls.READ ALSO: No ecosystem in India, no problem: How 9-year-old Arshi Gupta became youngest ever to join F1 Academy programBefore concluding, Arshiya’s father returned to a recurring concern: “Northeast lacks big sponsoring companies. We are asking companies to support girls in Northeast chess. Out of 91 Indian GMs, only 4 are women. We need to support girls. PM plans are coming. If companies support, Arshiya can become the first female GM from Northeast.”