In the words of the famous author, Haim Binott, “Treat a child as though he already is the person he’s capable of becoming”. Whether we believe it or not, there are some genius children in the world that do wonders. One such child prodigy Dev Shah believes that chess has life lessons for everyone. This 9-year-old chess wizard draws similarities between a navigating a chessboard and leading a boardroom. Yeah, a child of such age is in action and creating recognition for him on the world stage where others of similar age group watch cartoons at home. With their stupendous talent, they make people go ‘WOW’ and it could be simply said that they have already written this in stars.
This story of a small kid, Dev Shah, a Commonwealth Gold Medallist and FIDE World Youth & Cadets Chess Championships runner-up is basically a saga of a chess wiz. But not just this, he even delivered a speech at a renowned prestigious platform of TEDxNMIMS Bangalore. He spoke about the game of Chess and how it develops valuable qualities that are relevant in today’s society, especially the corporate world.
His interest for chess developed when at the age he used to accompany his sister to her sister’s chess tournaments. This was the time when Dev got intrigued by Chessboard and in his own words, “Soon, it became like a video game for me.”
With the going time, chess became a significant part of his life and he started participating in various tournaments and competitions to test his skills. His speech was initiated with the definition of ‘power’. According to him, there is a misconception that Queen is the most powerful piece on the board but he dismisses the thought. According to him, a pawn is more powerful than any other character as:
- It guards the more ‘powerful’ pieces.
- It has the power to become any piece – a rook, a bishop or even a Queen.
And he relates pawns to the working middle-class section of the society who originally empowers and drives the organization. He claims that without the working people, the managers would have no one to manage and would have nothing to do. The moment world recognizes the power of its employees, the further it will progress and the change will be visible. He says it correctly as ‘Human resource’ can be renamed as ‘Human Capital’.
According to him, Chessboard teaches people a lot of important life lessons along with enhancing their thinking potential and master them to achieve success in their lives. Dev says that it is our uniqueness which takes us further and distinguishes us from the rest. So, for any business to be successful, rather than concentrating on the opponents, instead we should focus on enhancing our capabilities and deliver the best to society.
Our salute to such inspiring change-bringers!
