A nine-year-old wheelchair-bound boy has become the youngest patentee in India for his invention of the circular chessboard.
The boy, Hridayeshwar Bhati, is a student of class IV at Delhi Public School here suffers from duchene muscular dystrophy which keeps him on a wheelchair.
In the chessboard developed by Hridayeshwar, six players can play at a time instead of two in the traditional chessboard.
Hridayeshwar’s father Sarovar Singh Bhati described the origin of the new chessboard idea. “There are six chess players in the apartment who are in the age group of my son and he was insisting on a chessboard where all of them could play the game together. When the senior Bhati told him that there is no such board Hridayeshwar insisted on developing one on his own,” Sarovar Singh Bhati said.
Sarovar Singh Bhati, a Maths teacher who helped the son in developing the design, said it took about six months to give a final shape to the design which has got a patent certificate from Kolkata. Hridayeshwar is now planning to develop a chessboard in which 60 players can play at a time.
Hridayeshwar whose inspiration is well known scientist Stephen Hwakings said, “This kind of chessboard could be used in clubs or housing societies.”
An ecstatic Hridayeshwar said apart from playing chess, he enjoys learning French on his own using the internet.