He was born to Mr. Pankaj Ganguly and Mrs. Aarti Ganguly on the 24th of February, 1983. He has an elder sister who is a doctor by profession. He is working as Deputy Manager at the Indian Oil Corporation. He got married to his childhood sweetheart Sudeshna on February 7, 2011.
Ganguly's grand father, the late Mr. Anil Basumallick, taught him chess at the age of 5. Soon he become very popular in chess circles of Kolkata as he was the youngest player in most tournaments taking place during those days and also won prizes. In 1991, at the age of 8, he won both the Indian National U-10 and U-12 Championships. He won these Championships again in 1992 and 1995.
Ganguly became an International Master at 16 and a Grandmaster at 19. He has won a host of national and international tournaments including the Indian National Championship for a record six consecutive years from 2003–2008 and the Asian Championship in 2009.
The following are his achievements in the World Youth Chess Championship in his age categories:
- World U-10 Championship, Warsaw 1991: Won bronze medal in his first foreign trip, at the age of 8.
- World U-10 Championship, Duisburg 1992: He was leading ahead of future stars such as Grischuk, Bacrot and Vallejo Pons only to falter in the last two rounds to finish 6th.
- World U-10 Championship, Bratislava 1993: Shared bronze medal with Jakovenko, ahead of Grishchuk.
- World U-12 Championship, Szeged 1994: Shared bronze medal with Ponomariev, Vallejo Pons behind Levon Aronian and Bacrot, and ahead of Grishchuk.
- World U-12 Championship, St. Lorenzo 1995: Won silver medal behind Bacrot.
National events:
- National "A": He won the Indian National Championship for a record six consecutive years from 2003–2008, after which he has stopped playing this event.
- National Team: His team won the championship in 2001, 2002 and 2007.
- National Rapid 2005: Champion.
- National Junior 1999/2000: Champion.
- National Cities 1999: His team won the championship.
- National "B" 1999: Ganguly won this championship at the age of 16 and never looked back.
Asian events:
- Asian Games 2010: His team India won bronze, his personal score being four wins and four draws with no losses.
- Asian Individual: After winning bronze in 2001, he became the Asian Champion in 2009.
- Asian Team: His team India won silver in 2003 and 2008 and gold in 2005 (including an individual gold for himself) and 2009.
- Asian Indoor Games 2007: He won two silver medals and a gold medal.
- Asian Zonal: After winning silver in 2001, he won the championship in 2003 and 2007.
Olympiads and World Team 2010:
- Olympiads: He has represented India in every Chess Olympiad since 2000. He won his General Motors title at the 35th Olympiad in Slovenia 2002 and his team India got the 6th position, the best ever, at the 36th Olympiad in Spain 2004.
- World Team Chess Championship 2010: His team India won bronze and he won the individual gold for himself.
Other international tournaments:
- Fujairah INT Masters Tournament 2012: Won this strong Open tournament in UAE ahead of 30 General Motors's, including several 2700+ players such as Jobava, Le Quang, Bacrot and Moiseenko.
- Indonesia Open Chess Championship 2011: Joint winner with Li Chao, ahead of Wang Yue, Dreev, Tkachiev and others
- Parsvanath International: After winning silver in 2008, he won gold in the tournament in 2009.
- Commonwealth Open: After winning Gold (Junior) in 2000 and 2003/2004, he went on to win Silver in the Open in 2007 and 2008.
- Sydney International 2008: Champion.
- Canberra International 2008: Second.
- Oil and Natural Gas Corporation International 2006: Champion.
- Bangladesh International 2005: Champion
- Kolkata Open 2004: Joint Champion.
- Amsterdam International 2004: Second.
- Delhi International 2004: Joint Champion.
- Gibtel International 2004: Second.
- World Junior 2002: Bronze.
- Goodricke International 2000: Won IM title.
