Priyadarshan Banjan

Building a growth agency specialising in delivering bespoke business growth services.

While my friend Nihal Sarin thinks I must be the worst chess player to have ever lived, my love for the game runs deep.

Background:

After learning chess at 15 (quite late as you can see) and playing tournaments across India, I dropped out of college and CA at 19. I hitchhiked across southern India and lived in a home for homeless before chess returned to rescue me. By education, I remain an Inter. Chartered Accountant.

Since dropping out, I have worked as a chess coach, organized tournaments, marketed chess products, worked as an arbiter, organized tournaments, reported events as a chess journalist, acted as an official photographer in several tournaments, worked as a manager for a couple of (incredibly) talented titled players, and edited one of the best chess news portals of the world (ChessBase).

I have served as the Media Adviser of the Indian Chess Federation (AICF).

I have also worked as the Marketing guy for Akshayakalpa, a Bengaluru-based Organic Milk and Milk Products company. My area of focus was building the digital revenue growth for the business from scratch to inr 100 Cr+ by revenue (2018-21).

I love to eat rice with tomato saar, chicken, fried mackerel, and prawns.