Ganesh Tajane, India

Ganesh Tajane

"For all I have learnt, age is just a number. If you have the will, the determination and if you are ready to sacrifice things which could be an impediment, then success isn't difficult to achieve."

Chess happened to him accidentally. He was once taking a walk in a park and saw few people playing the sport, he waited there and he was wonderstruck by how it was played.

He felt like learning the sport, so he went home and bought a chess board. He learnt the rules and basics from the introduction paper and soon started playing chess regularly.
Initially, it was a hobby but as he spent more time on the board, his love for the sport increased.
Later, with some guidance he got to know about tournaments and started participating in them.
Being from a middle class background, taking up a sport before studies was difficult for him, as most parents want their child to study hard and get a good job.

He even knew that age was not on his side as he started off pretty late, but that didn't stop him.
He had the will and the grit, he was ready to take efforts and he soon got a rating of 1450 at the age of 18.

He played many tournaments after that, but the turning point when he felt he had a chance at chess was when he played a below 1700 tournament in Delhi and secured 3rd rank to win a whopping cash prize of 50,000/-.
Later, he went on to win Maharashtra state open with a staggering score of 9/9 without even dropping half a point.