Aryan Joshi, India

Aryan Joshi

"Chess is everything for me. I love the sport.
I believe one should never give up"

His journey began in chess at the age of 11 when he saw his father and elder brother playing the game. Aryan being 80% visually challenged, things were not easy for him at first. But with sheer grit and determination he picked up the sport and started learning the basics. And in no time he started beating his father and his brother at the game. Along with chess he started to swim at the same age. So technically he was juggling chess, swimming and the academics.

His interest for the game kept on increasing and he made a rapid progress in the game by achieving his international rating of 1492. He won several state open tournaments and even participated in the Para games in the age category. He started Representing India on a number of occasions. 
He played the world junior for Blind in Poland and secured 6th rank which is really a commendable thing. He even represented India at the Olympiad for the Blinds and world senior championship as well.

But wait this is not everything he does, he is a great swimmer too. He has represented states on a number of occasions. He won 1 gold and 2 silver at national para swimming championships. He is a trekker as well.

Even while doing so many things, he gives importance to academics as well. He scored 87% in his 10th grade.

For him making use of normal chess software or books is not possible. So there are some specially designed software or screen readers on which he works. JAWS is one of them. And he even uses Winboard for coaching purpose.

Aryan is a cheerful person, he always stays calm no matter what the result is. He believes in hard work,dedication, and he does spend number of hours working on the sport to get better at it.

The challenges that he has to face on a daily basis are way superior than that we do.

He is true fighter.

His goal is to be the first blind GM from India.

With the spirit he has, anything is possible for him.