Aarav Dengla became India’s 93rd chess grandmaster in February 2026 at age 16, crediting AI-powered chess engines for accelerating his path. He first played competitive chess before turning six and, ten years later, used two AI engines in a Bosnia hotel room to prepare for a pivotal game. One engine recommended an aggressive shock-and-awe approach; the other a quieter, positional squeeze.
He blended both strategies but abandoned the plan mid-game when he lost more pieces than expected, forcing him to rely on his own judgment under time pressure. He pressed on and checkmated his opponent within ten moves, securing the grandmaster norm. Dengla now routinely uses large databases and dual AI engines before games: a rules-based engine calculating tens of thousands of variations per second, and a neural-network engine inspired by AlphaZero for deeper strategic insight.
He emphasizes that while AI aids preparation and idea generation, the final decision during play remains his alone. Drawing a parallel to education, he argues that AI should support learning but not replace independent assessment, noting that top chess players using AI are stronger than ever. He uses AI tools for language learning too, having become fluent in Spanish through apps, enabling him to take university-level literature classes.
AI, he concludes, raises the bar — human judgment clears it.
Source: Financial Times Companies · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing