Disabilities Not a Hindrance for This Mysuru Chess Prodigy

MYSURU:Being deaf and dumb is no barrier for this 16-year-old to shine in chess, a game associated with intelligence.

Aadish S, who learnt the game at the age of 10 stormed into the Indian deaf team within a year and also won prizes in the open category.

The teenager, son of Somaiah A S, a first division assistant at DIET and Shanti, a staff nurse at PKTB Sanatorium, has won more than 500 prizes in a span of five years.

He won the second prize in the First Asian Deaf Chess Championship held at Tashkent, Russia, in 2011.

In the open category, he finished eighth place in World Chess Championship held at Dehradun in 2012 and got the second prize in U-14 category in International Chess Championship held at Colombo in 2013.

The spectacular journey of Aadish, who is currently a student of diploma in communication science and engineering at JSS Polytechnic, started with a doctor in PKTB Hospital asking his mother not to neglect her son because of his disability and train him in chess. The mother did not ignore the advise. Vedamurthy Purushotham of Yadavagiri trained the boy free of cost.

Then nobody could stop the boy as he went on to win almost all the competitions he took part.

After representing Indian deaf team for three years, he took a break last year when he was in 10th standard. He passed with 57 percent marks competing with normal students.

Now, he is again eying a spot in the team for which the selections will be held next month.

His current FIDE rating is 1536. All his achievements would not have been possible without the support of his parents. His mother especially at times had to take leave without salary to accompany Aadish for competitions.

His father Somaiah said Aadish takes part in at least 10 events in a year and they are ready to make any sacrifice for the sake of their son. He has also won several prizes in swimming and drawing.

66 Taking Part in Championship

As many as 66 deaf and dumb chess players from across the country are taking part in the 11th National Deaf Chess Championship Tournament that began at Nanjaraja Bahadur Choultry here on Saturday.

There are 44 male and 25 female players who will play eight games each. The winners of the tournament will also get a chance to play in another tournament for selection to the national chess team for the deaf.