The Story of Odisha's inspiring brothers checkmating all the challenges and barriers!

Chess - A legacy which is passed on through the generations!

Under the guidance of their Uncle, Kesha Ranjan Pradhan, who is also a former state chess champion, the craze was always there in their family, and everyone at some point started to learn how to play! Because of limited sporting opportunities in other fields, both of them stuck to playing chess and eventually started loving the game. While Soundarya learned the basics from his parents (Mother: Jayantee Pradhan, Father: Rabi Ranjan Pradhan) and his brother, he also credits the indirect source to his uncle, Kesha Ranjan Pradhan!

Prachurya Pradhan is a Two-Time National Junior Chess Champion for the Blind (2011 and 2012), Silver medalist in the Asian Para Games 2018-Jakarta, Indonesia, Champion in the National FIDE Rating Chess Championship for the Blind 2013, and has won many more awards! He is also the first blind chess player from Odisha to get a FIDE Rating, which is for sure an inspiration to a lot of players from Odisha and outside!

Soundarya Kumar Pradhan received a gold medal B1 Men Rapid Team Chess in the 4th Asian Para Games held in Hangzhou and board 2 at the World Team Chess Championship for the Blind in Ohrid, Macedonia, and Silver medal in the 10th IBCA World Individual Junior Chess championship for the blind & Visually Impaired held in Poland in August 2018 and many more such awards which stands as a crowning achievement in his chess career.

This doesn't just stop here. Prachurya and Soundarya have always been at the forefront of serving the nation and working towards the betterment for society!

Prachurya clears the UPSC for Odisha Government

While both of them mentioned their qualifications and achievements, it made me realize that any barrier is defined to be called a "barrier" only when we perceive it as an obstacle, but the truth is that a barrier or a challenge is not something to just worry about, it is something which is meant to be overcome which eventually leads to finding the potential within and the positive things which one is capable of doing! Both Prachurya and Soundarya followed this mindset and are always walking on the path of positivity and the betterment of society!

Soundarya rightly said:

Disability is not a curse; it is a challenge. Life becomes so beautiful when we start doing what we can do instead of wallowing in self-pity for what we cannot.

Alongside, Prachurya added:

Never lose hope dreams definitely do come true you have to dream big.

Prachurya recently cleared his Odisha Public Service Commission- Odisha Civil Service (OPSC-OCS) Examination and is currently posted as an Under Secretary to the Government, Finance Department, Government of Odisha and is allocated the budget section where he aids in the preparation of the state budget of Odisha.

When asked about the thought of preparing for OPSC, Prachurya shared some insights:

"Well, at some point of time while I was doing my graduation and I was also in the field of chartered accountancy, I felt like to bring a bigger change in the society. It is important that you do something big, and that's how I started my UPSC journey. I prepared for UPSC along with the chess preparation and the chartered accountancy which I was pursuing."

During Covid, while there was a pause on chess, Prachurya got more time to focus on civil service preparation. Also, he is the first visually impaired person from his state to take up commerce as his stream; this itself shows how one change can push limits to new heights and inspire others along the way! He also has completed a diploma in financial management and hence believes that being allocated the budget section is in particular very suitable to his interests and that budget is the field where anyone could make a big difference for society.

When asked about his motivation/role model, Prachurya mentioned:

"Sagar sir is one of my biggest motivations. He balanced chess and his CA chartered accountancy career in such a way that he became an international master and a chartered accountant almost at the same time. So it was quite amazing to see and I relate to him in most of the cases the first time I saw him in 2018 I found a lot of similarities with him and it gave me a direction APJ Abdul Kalam is one of my big motivations, the kind of challenges he faced and the kind of background he started his journey from - he's one of them to look forward to!"

Prachurya mentioned that there was no electricity for a long time in his village. Despite these obstacles, he persevered, demonstrating remarkable consistency in managing his time effectively.

Prachurya on managing both chess and academics:

"It looks difficult at the outset because it is definitely not easy to balance academics and chess at the same time but what is important is the time management and the attitude that I can do it because once you believe that you can do it you believe that you can manage you will find a way to manage it."

Prachurya does not want to hinder his progress as a chess player while being a civil servant and vice-versa.

Many parents reach out to them seeking guidance on how they can follow a similar path and help their children secure a comfortable future. This demonstrates the influence of their story and the admiration of those seeking inspiration and guidance.

Prachurya recently got married to Alisha Sahu. Here are some beautiful pictures of their special day. :)

Prachurya also shared some inspiring words for the readers:

"Keep working hard and don't feel burdened; just remember that the sky is the limit if you can focus. If you are confident enough, if you know what you are doing, and if you know exactly what you are going to achieve, then with a little bit of self-confidence, work dedication, and determination, you will definitely reach your destination. So never lose hope; dreams definitely do come true you have to dream big."

Soundarya's gift for blind chess players

Soundarya is currently working as Deputy Manager in Odisha Mining Corporation, Bhubaneswar. He recently developed the software named "SK Chess". It allows users to upload a PGN or a game, which is then read out with all annotations and engine lines, making it an invaluable tool for visually impaired players. This thoughtful initiative was also made along with the support of Ashutosh Anand.

You can check the product: https://accessiblechess.in/

Blind chess players face a lot of problems while preparing due to the lack of resources available. I have been a part of a team during my college that aimed to help the visually impaired, we had the privilege of interviewing and interacting with some of the visually impaired individuals and gaining insights into their daily lives and the challenges they face. It was inspiring to see how they utilize technology to enhance their daily routines. One of the main challenges we encountered was the limited availability of services available to fulfill their linguistic preferences. As far as chess is concerned, it is very evident that these challenges extend to a lot more, with respect to the board understanding initially, training, resources, etc. Soundarya shared:

"We use a screen reading software to access the text on a computer or mobile. That is how we practice chess. However, chess materials are generally not accessible in the sense that they are not designed in the required format to suit the capabilities of screen readers. I had other challenges in my STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) education. Diagrams were not accessible, and non-linear mathematical contents, such as a (effectively written as a physically over b) were not interpreted by the screen reading software.

Soundarya then found a solution to solve this problem!

"I loved science from childhood. Considering the inaccessibility of science, well-wishers often recommended me to pursue English or other subjects in humanity and become a professor in those subjects or appear for competitive exams. While I have great respect for those fields, I stuck with the love of my life. If you stick around long enough, something beautiful comes out."

That's when Soundarya developed a website that was able to convert a FEN position and read out the moves/positions along with whose move it is to play next! This not only helps him but also other visually impaired chess players in their training!

Being an Information Science Engineer graduate myself, I understand the kind of attention a code requires. Programming and development tasks often demand continuous checking and debugging, but Soundarya's ability to overcome these challenges and create a valuable screen reader for others is truly commendable.

Soundarya is a computer science engineer from NIT, Jamshedpur. He loves to keep experimenting and has developed several small projects to gamify mathematics in an accessible manner and to read scanned texts from pictures. He plans to publish them once it is developed to a reasonable level. He is also the first visually impaired person in his state to take up science as his stream, while all others before and after him have taken arts.

As someone deeply interested in understanding the process he uses for debugging and cross-checking his code, I was eager to understand how he navigates through various elements within the IDE(Integrated Development Environment is a platform/software application used by developers to code), as they are a natural part of coding. He shared that he uses the screen reader software which reads out the lines, the evident challenge here is the editors that are usually used for coding have text apart from the coding area too(which makes it difficult to differentiate various elements within the IDE itself) so the screen reader reads aloud those words too, but since he adjusts the speed of the screen reader accordingly, it helps them identify the lines they are looking for which is not easy as it sounds and comes with practice.

Soundarya's motivation mantra:

"To set the context, I am not very sure if our talent comes from God. But just in case it does, I believe it is a sin not to reach our full potential. It's just like getting all the support from family and wasting it away due to laziness."

Both of them are truly an inspiration, and it's amazing how they bring positivity to everything they do. I strongly believe that once we inculcate this habit of not complaining about every little thing and actually working on it within our lives, we can simplify things even to a better extent! It's also encouraging to know that there are more individuals like them, and we are very proud of you all! :)

Related news:

	Soundarya Pradhan's website for blind chess players @ 26/02/2021 by Sagar Shah (en)
	My brother is a hero: A true story of overcoming adversities and never giving up @ 20/09/2018 by Prachurya Kumar Pradhan (en)