Abhijit Kunte Height, Age, Wife, Children, Family, Biography

Bio/Wiki
Profession	• Chess Player • Chess Coach
Famous for	Earning the title of Grandmaster
Physical Stats
Height (approx.)	5'6" (168 cm)
Eye Colour	Dark Brown
Hair Colour	Black
Chess
Domestic/State Team(s)	• Maharashtra State Team • Petroleum Sports Promotion Board • Indian Oil Corporation Limited
Coach	Mohan Phadke
Records (main ones)	• In 2000, he became the 4th Indian to become a chess Grandmaster, becoming 1st Grandmaster from Pune and 2nd from Maharashtra. • On 3rd August2003, he became the last Indian/Foreign player to win the British Championship. • In 2004, he became the 1st Indian to win the Kolkata Open. • In 2014, he created the Indian record of playing against 155 opponents simultaneously
Medals	Gold • 1997: Indian Chess Championship in Bhilai (Individual) • 2000: Indian Chess Championship in Mumbai (Individual) • 2005: 14th Asian Team Chess Championship in Esfahan (Team) Silver • 2000: Commonwealth Chess Championship in Sangli (Individual) • 2003: 13th Asian Team Chess Championship in Jodhpur (Team, Individual) • 2008: 15th Asian Team Chess Championship in Visakhapatnam (Team) Bronze • 1999: Indian Chess Championship in Nagpur (Individual) • 1999: 12th Asian Team Chess Championship in Shenyang (Individual) • 2001: Indian Chess Championship in Delhi (Individual) • 2003: Commonwealth Chess Championship in Mumbai (Individual) • 2005: 14th Asian Team Chess Championship in Esfahan (Individual) • 2007: VI Asian Individual Chess Championship in Cebu City (Individual) • 2008: 15th Asian Team Chess Championship in Visakhapatnam (Individual)
Awards, Honours	• International Marathon Award for Best Junior Player Of Pune City by International Marathon, Pune (1993-94) • Late Shri Sunil Tambe Kreeda Puraskar for Best Player of Pune City (1994) • Late Shri Raja Mantri Puraskar for Best Player of Pune City (1994-95) • Shiv Chhatrapati Award by the Maharashtra State Government (1998-99) • Felicitation Award by the Rotary Club of Katraj, Pune for his service in sports (2019) • Major Dhyan Chand Award (2021) • FIDE Senior Trainer (2022) • Felicitated by the Sports Minister of Kerala, V. Abdurahiman at Chess Pratibha Aadaram (2022) • Women’s Coach of the Year Award at the 5th Annual Asian Chess Excellence Awards (2023) • Vakhtang Karseladze Award for the best achievement by a trainer in women’s and/or girl’s competitions (2024) • Felicitation Award by the Maharashtra State Chess Association for helping women's team as a coach to win the gold medal in the Chess Olympiad (2024)
Personal Life
Date of Birth	3 March 1977 (Thursday)
Age (as of 2024)	47 Years
Birthplace	Pune, Maharashtra
Zodiac sign	Pisces
Nationality	Indian
Hometown	Pune, Maharashtra
School	Abhinav Vidyalaya, Maharashtra (1983-1993)
College/University	• Brihan Maharashtra College of Commerce (BMCC), Pune, Maharashtra (1992-1997) • IndSearch Institute of Management Studies & Research, Pune, Maharashtra (1998-2000)
Educational Qualification	• Bachelor of Commerce (B.Com.) from the Brihan Maharashtra College of Commerce (BMCC), Pune, Maharashtra • Diploma in Business Management in Finance from the IndSearch Institute of Management Studies & Research, Pune, Maharashtra (1998-1999) • Masters in Management Science in Finance from the IndSearch Institute of Management Studies & Research, Pune, Maharashtra (1999-2000)
Religion	Hinduism
Social Media	• Instagram • Twitter
Relationships & More
Marital Status	Married
Marriage Date	14 March 2004
Family
Wife/Spouse	Meghana Tembe-Kunte (Entrepreneur)
Children	Son- Arnav Kunte Daughter- Maithili Kunte
Parents	Father- Prakash Kunte Mother- Meena Prakash Kunte
Siblings	Sister- Mrunalini Kunte (Entrepreneur, Chess Coach)

Some Lesser Known Facts About Abhijit Kunte

• He started playing chess because of his sister, Mrunalini Kunte after she took him to her trainer, Mohan Phadke.

• He began playing chess when he was 7 years old.

• He serves as the Chief Manager (A&W and Sports) at the Indian Oil Corporation Limited.

• He is the captain of the Indian women’s chess Olympiad team.

• He serves as a mentor and advisor to KinderSports, a leading sports company in India.

• He is the last Indian or foreign player to win the British championship, as the entry of foreign players was banned from the tournament after his victory in 2003.

• He was a member of the Indian chess team from 1998 to 2011 and has represented India four times at Chess Olympiads in the years 1998, 2000, 2002, and 2004.

• On 19 April 2007, he opened Kunte’s Chess Academy (KCA) along with his sister in Pune, Maharashtra.
  

  Abhijit Kunte (left) and his sister during the inauguration of their chess academy

• In 2009, he founded Lakshya Institute, a non-profit sports NGO in Pune.

• From 2011 to 2015, he served as a chess commissioner in schools where Maharashtra Chess Association started a chess program for schoolchildren.

• He serves as an advisor at the Buddhibal Kreeda Trust, an NGO that focuses on the promotion of chess.

• He became an Indian women’s coach in 2012 and has captained the Indian women’s team to achieve a medal on several occasions including a bronze medal in the Online Olympiad (2021), a silver medal in the Asian Games (2023), and a gold medal in the Chess Olympiad in Budapest (2024).

• He has coached various players in chess including Grand Masters Vidit Gujrathi and Srinath Narayanan and International Masters such as Soumya Swaminathan, and Abhishek Kelkar.

• He serves as the head of the Selection Committee for the All India Chess Federation (AICF).

• In 2021, he was appointed as the Chairman of the Selection Committee of the Indian Chess team & Head Coach of the Indian team by the All India Chess Federation

• He was the vice-captain and coach of the Indian team and helped win the bronze medal at the Online Olympiad 2021.

• Abhijit was also the coach of the Indian women’s team that won the silver medal at the FIDE World Women’s Team Championships 2021. This was the first medal that the Indian women’s team won at the world level.

• The World Chess Federation (FIDE) appointed him a member of the Chess in Education Commission in 2022.

• On 20 July 2024, he helped FIDE (International Chess Federation) to set a Guinness World record for the number of chess games played in a day to celebrate International Chess Day and FIDE Centenary Anniversary.

• In September 2024, he requested a specialised program to help improve the performance of women in chess in India as he found that there was a large gap in strength between women and teenage boys in chess.

• He further requested the Government of India to update the Sports Code due to lack of clarity and said,
  

  I work with many sports being a manager at Indian Oil. And every sport is suffering because of non-clarity due to lack of understanding of the Sports Code and a number of court orders. I don’t think govt can be happy with the situation if they want to host the 2036 Summer Olympics.”