New Delhi, March 23 -- It was a wisdom-ridden advice from chess legend Viswanathan Anand that kept 16-year-old Mayank Chakraborty grounded as he ascended the ranks to become India's first-ever Chess Grandmaster from the Northeast. The teenager, having officially scripted history, says "humility has paid off" in a way that he will never forget.

Speaking from his home in Guwahati (Assam), Mayank confesses that this achievement once felt like a distant dream. "Ever since I took up chess as a young kid, all I ever wanted was to be the first, and not just in chess but in everything I did," recalls Mayank with a quiet but firm intensity, and adds, "Whether it was in school or other sports, I always had this internal drive to come first. Becomi...