Who Is Aarav Dengla? Mumbai Teenager Becomes India's 93rd Chess Grandmaster

Last Updated:March 02, 2026, 08:40 IST

Aarav Dengla from Mumbai becomes India's 93rd chess Grandmaster after winning GM Mix Bijeljina and GM-norm Round Robin Tournament in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Mumbai teenager Aarav Dengla on Saturday, February 28, became India’s 93rd chess Grandmaster, following Delhi’s Aaryan Varshney into the esteemed list. The latter achieved the GM title in January. Aarav completed the necessary formalities over the weekend to earn the coveted title.

Aarav bagged his third and final Grandmaster norm and breached the 2500 mark, with his classical live rating climbing to 2506, thereby meeting all the requirements for the GM title.

Aarav accomplished the milestone by winning the GM Mix Bijeljina and the GM-norm Round Robin Tournament in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Aarav, a 17-year-old from Mumbai, earned his first Grandmaster norm at the 1st International GM Tournament Bijeljina in 2022, while his second came at the Zupanja Celebrates Chess GM-norm Round Robin in Croatia in 2025.

Among Aarav’s other notable accomplishments are winning the Grand Paris Masters Championship in 2024 and clinching the FIDE World Schools Rapid and Blitz titles in the same year, among multiple other achievements.

A student of Dhirubhai Ambani International School, Aarav, struck gold at the FIDE World Schools Rapid and Blitz in 2024.

Staged at the Blanche de Castille High School on the outskirts of Paris, the Masters chess event featured 250 contenders vying for the coveted crown. The then 15-year-old Aarav stole the limelight in the tournament, delivering a flawless performance with a perfect seven points to seal a dominant win and claim his maiden Parisian championship title.

“I started learning chess when I was five. I played my first few-day tournaments when I was six. Since then, I have always been in love with the game. Initially, it started as a hobby," Aarav had told Chess.com in 2022.

“My mom taught it to me and within three-four weeks, I was playing in local tournaments. After a while, I began playing in FIDE tournaments, and that is when I wanted to get a bit further into chess and become a grandmaster," Aarav added.

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