Checkmate!

Age really doesn’t matter when it comes to talent. When seniors double his age are getting confused playing the game of chess, 10 years old Hridayeshwar Singh Bhati has taken the game to another level. Not one but six players can play at one go. This innovation has made him the youngest patent holder in the country (9 years) and also world youngest patent holder in a wheel chair. His chessboard is a meter big circular board with 228 playing squares. The major difference is that pieces are moved in an arched path instead of the traditional straight route. If that was not enough, now he has already finished and applied for patent for 12 player circular chess. It all started one day when he was playing chess with his dad and his friends wanted to join them. A thought of 12 players playing chess together makes your head spin but now he is working on 60 players’ chess. “The beauty of circular chess is that its rules are based on existing chess and having more application and utility. Moreover this innovation can make lot of people to play at same time,” says Hridayeshwar Singh Bhati in an interview.

If it was just the success story then it ends here but there is a twist in his script of life. This wonder boy is suffering from Duchenne muscular dystrophy where brain stops sending signals to the muscles, lower part of the body is paralyzed, and lungs are affected. “Doctors have told us that children like him survive till the age of 17. He will give a lot to the world before that,” says Sarowar Singh Bhati, the father who is a Mathematics teacher. Only God knows how long this boy will be with us but with a beautiful smile he gives us a wonderful message that even if disease cannot be cured it can be defeated. Checkmate life!

(Published in Society Sept ’13, Page No. 16)