How the Northeast's rising star Arshiya Das is making her remarkable chess climb

When ratings intimidate...

As an unrated player, I always used to get nervous whenever I was paired against rated opponents. When the pairings were announced, I would first look at my opponent’s name and then their rating. I used to feel that the rating already predicted the result. My father would ask, “Why do you give up before the game?” I would say, “How can I beat rated players? There is no way I can do that.” “Even Grandmasters make mistakes,” was his usual answer. Deep down, I knew his advice made sense, but still, how could I possibly compete against stronger players? Ratings always used to intimidate me.

Yet we often hear of players giving a tough fight to much higher-rated opponents. The old myth that younger or lower-rated players can’t challenge stronger ones has long been busted. Many players are proving that you can just be as fierce, no matter the rating gap. In this article, we will look at one such player - Arshiya Das from Tripura.

At the age of five, the chessboard became Arshiya’s best friend. She picked up chess very fast, and her talent showed instantly. In her very first local club tournament, she impressed everyone with her fantastic play. That led to her first official tournament, the U-7 Girls National Championship in 2016. She finished 10th with an amazing score of 8/11.

It was a performance that convinced her parents that this was more than just a hobby. They decided to give her the right training and exposure. From there, Arshiya’s journey truly began. She kept winning prizes and, more importantly, experience. By the time she was 10, she was already competing internationally.

Let’s have a look at some of Arshiya’s achievements:

Arshiya was named Best Chess Player of the Year by the Tripura Sports Journalists Club (TSJC) for four consecutive years: 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020. She has also been honoured with the Tripura State Second Citizen Award, Tripura Bhushan, in 2021.

Her achievements are the proof that she is inspiring thousands back home in the Northeast! “These results gave me huge confidence. They made me believe that I could push further,” says Arshiya. 

At the start of 2024, Arshiya’s rating was 1687. She reached there after years of hard work and progress, but what came next was nothing short of spectacular. Between January 2024 and May 2025, she played in more than 21 tournaments! During this time, she began to change her approach to chess. She started reading more chess books and worked seriously on her opening repertoire. And the results were visible!

Arshiya sent a list of books that helped her and may also help players looking to improve:

1. The Woodpecker Method

2. Calculation by Shankland

3. Train Your Chess Pattern Recognition

4. Improve Your Chess Pattern Recognition

Her meteoric rise proves her to be one of India’s most promising young talents. Along the way, she also secured her first Women’s International Master (WIM) norm at the Asian Individual Women’s Chess Championship 2025 in Al-Ain, UAE. Numbers and titles tell one part of the story, but the real essence of a player's growth can be seen in their games. Here are two of Arshiya's memorable games from the same tournament that reflect her fighting spirit:

In her game against WGM Munkhzul Turmunkh, Arshiya outprepared her opponent straight from the opening. In the position after 11.d4, Black would probably have done better with 11...Nxd4. Instead, the game continued 11.d4 cxd4 12.Bg5, and White launched a powerful attack. Notice that the bishop on g5 is not easily dislodged: 12...h6 can be met by 13.h4!.

Second game is against WCM Bayasgalan Khishigbaatar (2265). This was the last round. Arshiya needed to win this game in order to achieve the WIM norm.

After 24.c3, White held a comfortable edge, with the knight firmly anchored on c5, the g2-bishop active along the long diagonal (in stark contrast to Black’s passive light-squared bishop on c8), and the major pieces pressing against the semi-open central files. However, Arshiya failed to leverage this slight pull in the position. Following 24...Kh8 25.Qf1 d4 mass exchanges ensued: 26.cxd4 Rxd4 27.Qf2 Rxd1 28.Rxd1 e5 29.fxe5 Nxe5 30.Qd4 Ng4 31.Qxg7+ Kxg7, and the game quickly fizzled into equality.

A stronger try could have been, for instance, 27.Bxc6 bxc6 28.Re5 Rd5 29.Rdxd5 cxd5 30.Qf2 Qc7 31.Qd4, etc., leaving White some scope to squeeze. But Arshiya's instinct held her back from exchanging her active bishop for Black's knight.

While Arshiya keeps delivering mindblowing performances, her growth was not easy. It came with its challenges. It’s her resilience that kept her grounded through ups and downs.

The most important thing I learned is that it’s okay to have some bad games or a bad tournament. We should never lose hope or confidence. A good time may come anytime. What matters is to keep working hard and practice more on our weak areas. - she says.

Arshiya has crossed the 2100 milestone. But her dreams stretch far beyond. Her next aim is to complete her remaining WIM norms and become the first Woman International Master from the entire Northeast. She also wants to represent India at the Women’s World Chess Championship.

Arshiya has a great support system behind her. Besides her supportive parents, her coaches have played a big role. She has trained under FM Presemjit Dutta, GM Swayam Mishra, IM Kaustav Kundu, GM Saptarshi Roy Chowdhury, and for the last five years, she has also been a student of Killer Chess Training (KCT), run by GM Jacob Aagaard. Currently, she is part of the Chola Chess Initiatives by GM RB Ramesh and his team.

Support for her journey has also come from beyond her immediate circle. In 2023, Arshiya was awarded the "S. Krishnan Scholarship", through which she received Rs. 50,000. The scholarship was instituted by Kartik Krishnan, who is now an integral part of the ChessBase India team. Kartik had extended the same support in the previous year as well. Here is what he has to say about Arshiya's progress since then:

When I had to first select a recipient for the scholarship, there were a lot of talented candidates to choose from. Arshiya’s achievements stood out to me. Right from the get-go, her father, Purnendu Das, has been very communicative. He always keeps me posted about the tournaments that she is taking part in and how she performed. So yes, I am aware of the incredible journey she has been on and how tremendous her progress has been. It’s been beautiful to see how hard she is working on her chess and is growing from strength to strength. All these factors helped me in deciding to continue to support her in the year 2024 as well. I wish her the very best to keep pursuing chess excellence!

The road ahead is long and full of challenges. Yet Arshiya is ready to keep moving forward. It’s amazing to see such determination and courage in young talents. Stories like Arshiya’s remind me that what truly matters is the fight you put up on the board. And who knows - if I play a tournament next time, maybe I won’t be so worried about my opponent’s rating after all.

Important link

Arshiya Das wins the S. Krishnan Scholarship of Rs.50,000