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NEW DELHI: For those unfamiliar with India’s iconic quiz show “Kaun Banega Crorepati” (KBC), hosted by legendary actor Amitabh Bachchan, the term “hot seat” may evoke a bizarre image. But, in reality, it is where contestants sit opposite Bachchan in the Indian version of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?”For India’s 72nd Grandmaster, Mitrabha Guha, getting there in February last year was as unexpected as it was memorable. “Actually, with KBC, you never really know whether the call is genuinely from KBC or not because KBC itself doesn’t directly call people,” Mitrabha’s father, Raj Guha, told TimesofIndia.com, recalling the episode from last year. “Someone contacted him through Instagram and asked, ‘Are you interested in coming to KBC?'” In 2025, as the show celebrated its silver jubilee, producers sought out Under-25 achievers. While India’s leading IITs and IIMs nominated their brightest students, a couple of places were reserved for exceptional performers outside academia. Then 23, Guha, already one of the country’s leading chess players, found himself among the select few.“He thought, ‘Fine, I’ll come.’ But he asked me, ‘Will I be able to do it? They’ll ask questions,'” his father said. “They conducted many interviews over the phone and eventually told him, ‘No, you’re perfect. Come. We’ll take you.'” The experience, however, was unlike anything he had encountered over the chessboard. “It was a truly unique experience. Four or five full days of shooting, and getting the opportunity to play in front of Amitabh Bachchan was very special. Honestly, it was quite surprising that I got such an opportunity directly,” Mitrabha, who is currently in Italy as the coach of the Indian team participating in the World Youth Chess Championship 2026, told this website during an exclusive interaction.
From Rs 4.8 lakh at KBC to India’s final ENC qualifier
While the KBC hot seat and the Rs 4.8 lakh he won there remain a distinctive part of his journey, Mitrabha, now 24, has recently taken the chess world by storm with his over-the-board craftwork.The GM from West Bengal has earned India’s final berth at the inaugural chess event at the Esports Nations Cup (ENC) 2026 in Riyadh. The ENC qualification comes on the back of a gold medal in the Commonwealth Chess Championship title, his second after previously winning the same colour during the 2023-24 season.“The Commonwealth Gold was very nice,” the player added. “ENC is a bonus, obviously, and I’m very happy that I’m playing quite well at the moment. Hopefully, I’ll be able to maintain my form and play even better in the future.”His qualification route was anything but straightforward. “The Esports tournament was a bit confusing because there are two events involved: the Esports World Cup and the Esports Nations Cup,” he said. “I received a message from Chess.com saying that this tournament was a regional qualifier for India and that only one spot was available. So I decided to play, and luckily I won the first qualifier.”Guha topped the nine-round Swiss event with 7.5 points and remained unbeaten before navigating the knockout stage to become India’s second representative alongside Nihal Sarin, who had already secured a direct invitation through the Champions Chess Tour (CCT) standings.
When Grandmaster Dibyendu Barua changed his mind
Guha’s chess journey began in Kolkata when he was barely three-and-a-half years old. “At that time, the minimum age for getting into the academy was six years,” his father recalled.“We called Dibyendu Barua’s academy and said that my son knew all the moves. They told us to come back when he was six. I said, ‘Just have a look at him once. If you don’t want to take him, that’s fine.'”
Mitrabha Guha (Special arrangements)
When GM Barua saw the child effortlessly explaining the moves, he changed his mind. “He (Barua) said, ‘I can see he already knows everything even at three and a half years old. I’ll take him.’ And that’s how the journey began,” father Raj added.By the age of six, Guha was ready for his first international assignment, an Under-8 tournament in Vietnam. “It was unimaginable in those days to send a six-year-old child abroad,” his father said. “His mother started crying. But Mitrabha himself acted as though nothing was wrong. In fact, he was wiping tears from his mother’s eyes.”
A middle-class gamble
Playing chess at the elite level required something more than skills. The Guha Family was getting accustomed to this harsh truth every day. “Our financial condition wasn’t very strong,” his father, a government employee, admitted, “Chess required a lot of money.”The struggle continued for years.“In Kolkata, there is virtually no sponsorship and no government support, almost none. All the expenses, whether for playing tournaments in Europe or for coaching, had to be covered through my own prize money,” he asserted.
Mitrabha received the National Award for Exceptional Achievement by the Government of India in 2013
“Financial problems were something I had faced from a very young age and continued to deal with until around 2019, when I became an International Master,” 2001-born Mitrabha said.His father described those years as “unbelievably difficult”. “From four to eighteen years old, it was extremely hard for a middle-class family,” he said. “There is no guarantee in this sports. You may run around from four to eighteen and still never know whether you’ll become an IM or a GM.”
The turning point
Ironically, the COVID-19 pandemic proved to be a turning point. “During Covid, the number of online chess tournaments increased significantly,” the Grandmaster said, suggesting that winning more tournaments there would bring in more prize money, and that came to help Mitrabha. “That helped me financially, and since then I haven’t faced those problems.”Behind much of the GM’s rise was his mother, Sujata Guha, who accompanied him to tournaments across the country and abroad during his formative years. With his father tied to his responsibilities as a government employee, it was Sujata who travelled with the young chess player almost constantly until he turned 18. Mitrabha earned his Grandmaster title back in 2022.
Mitrabha’s mother Sujata Guha and father Raj Guha (Screengrabs)
Beyond the chessboard, Mitrabha is currently pursuing his MBA. “We never neglected studies at any point,” his father said. “If things don’t work out, ultimately you have to look for a job.”Today, with the financial uncertainties largely behind him and invitations arriving from tournaments around the world, Guha is focused on the game that has defined his life. “Playing is his life,” his father said. “Coaching isn’t very important to him at the moment. Maybe four or five years later he’ll think about it, but right now his entire focus is on playing.”ALSO READ: R Praggnanandhaa Exclusive Interview: ‘Winning ahead of Magnus Carlsen is something I’ve always wanted’Titans from across the world, such as Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura, will arrive in Riyadh to compete in the Esports Nations Cup later this year in November. The Grandmaster from Kolkata will be one of them, and it is exactly where he has always thrived, on the hot seat.
