Tripura’s chess wonder Arshiya Das becomes international master , earning third and final norm in Serbia

By Our Correspondent

Agartala, February 7, 2026

Arshiya Das (15), the wonder girl of Tripura chess, has added another colourful feather to her already swollen cap by achieving her third and final norm as International Master (IM) in the just concluded 9-round Round Robin tournament at Belgrade , the capital of Serbia in Europe . Arshiya who is already a national champion in under-15 and school chess tournament, as also Asian champion in rapid and blitz tournament, had taken part in the Belgrade tournament as one of the entries from India . At the initial stage of the tournament she had forged ahead but finally she started trailing but still scored a dignified 6.5 out of total nine points and managed to earn her third and final norm to be recognised as IM by the chess world body , the FIDE. She had also performed creditably in the world under-10 age group tournament held in Spain a few years ago .

For chess in Tripura Arshiya’s success in attaining the prestigious IM norms is being considered a major milestone as it was way back in 2009 that the state’s once-famous chess player and currently Arshiya’s coach Prasenjit Dutta had earned the FIDE master’s norm . But Arshiya has already surpassed her illustrious coach.

Arshiya is currently a student of class IX in the Holy Cross school and the only daughter of BSNL officer Purnendu Das and his home-maker wife Anisha Das. She has already been congratulated for her achievement by top personalities of the state including the chief minister Dr Manik Saha. Sources in the Tripura Chess Association (TCA) said that it is only a matter of time before Arshiya becomes a full-fledged international Grand Master (GM)-perhaps first in the womens section and then in the higher mens section also.

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