Jaipur:
A nine-year-old boy in Jaipur has got the patent for a unique invention, a game of chess that six people can play together.
The idea came to the Hrideshwar, a class fifth student, when he was playing chess with his father, and his friends came over and wanted to be part of the game. Hrideshwar then decided to invent a chessboard for six people. Hrideshwar was helped by his father Sarower Singh Bhati, who is a mathematics teacher. The duo went online and found that while there are chessboards for four people, there was nothing for six players.
Hrideshwar's father says that he first tried to create a chessboard in the shape of a pentagon but his son suggested a circle, and after 199 designs, the circular chessboard for 6 people was finally developed in October last year. The circular chessboard was patented in the name of Hrideshwar Bhati on March 21, 2012.
The rules are just like chess, except pawns are not moved in straight lines but in arcs across a circular chessboard, it has some non-playing zones and once a player loses, he has to remove all his pawns from the chessboard, while the others keep playing. The game can be played by 6 individual players in combinations of 2 teams of 3 each or 3 teams of 2 each.
Hrideshwar, a student of Delhi Public School, had muscular dystrophy, an incurable disease, and since the age of five, has had to use a wheelchair to move around. Hrideshwar's idol is Stephen Hawkins, and wants to be a scientist. Hrideshwar has proved that he is not disabled but just differently abled like his idol.