Surya Shekhar Ganguly is an Indian chess grandmaster, 2009 Asian champion and six-time Indian champion. He was born on 24 February 1983 in Kolkata, India. Ganguly's grandfather, the late Anil Basumallick, taught him chess at the age of 5. Soon he become very popular in chess circles of Kolkata as he was the youngest player in most tournaments taking place during those days and also won prizes. In 1991, at the age of 8, he won both the Indian National U-10 and U-12 Championships. Ganguly became an International Master at 16 and a Grandmaster at 19. He worked in the team of seconds that assisted Anand in winning the World Championship matches against Vladimir Kramnik, Veselin Topalov and Gelfand in 2008, 2010 and 2012 respectively. He was awarded the Arjuna Award in 2005 for his outstanding achievement in sports. He also got the "Shera Bangali" award in 2009 as the best Sportsperson of Bengal and the "Khel Samman" award in 2013 from the Government of West Bengal. He was awarded ?Bangabhusan?, the second highest civilian award of West Bengal, in 2015.