JAIPUR: Drawing inspiration from scientist Stephen Hawking, a wheelchair-bound nine-year-old boy here has invented a game of six-player circular chess. The boy, Hridayeshwar Singh Bhati, who suffers from duchene muscular dystrophy, has got the game's design patented in his name.
According to his father, Bhati is the youngest person on wheelchair to get a patent in the world and he is also the youngest patent holder in India. Speaking about his achievement Bhati said: "I want to be like Hawking who become a famous scientist despite suffering from motor neuron disease."
The student of Class IV, Delhi Public School here, has made an innovative version of circular chess for two, three, four and six players.
His father, Sarovar Singh Bhati, says: "There are six chess players in our apartment of my son's age. He doesn't like the idea of only two players playing at a time and demanded me to buy a chess board on which more boys can play. When I told him no such chess board is available, he wanted to develop such a chess board." Sarovar Singh, who is a math teacher, also assisted him in developing the design.
It took six months for Bhati and his father to draw the final design. "It was a never-ending and continuous process for us and we did not have a set deadline. Being a math teacher, I assisted him whenever there were geometrical complications," says the father.
Though the design has been patented, Bhati still believes there is scope for improvement in the design. He is also delighted for his achievement and is now determined to create a circular design chess for 60 players. "I want to design chess where around 60 players in a big club house can play at a same time," he said.
Bhati ambition is to become a scientist. Apart from this, he enjoys learning French and playing video games "I love French language and try to learn it on my own from internet." He gives credit for his success to his parents and continuous motivation and his teachers for providing supportive environment and support.
Before Bhati, Biplove Sharma at the age of 16 was the youngest patent holder. Kashyap Gopi got patent at the age of 17.
