Breaking New Ground, One Chess Move at a Time

Chess is a game played in silence. And for Dawa Tenzin, that silence has always felt like home.

Born to Tibetan refugee parents in India, he lost both his parents at a tender age. Cared for by his aunt, he was admitted to Ngoenga School for Tibetan children with special needs. Today, he works at Exile Creations Private Limited, a Tibetan glass beads handicraft centre.

But there is another side to Tenzin that fewer people know about.

Representing Uttarakhand, he competes as part of India’s national deaf chess circuit. He now remains the only deaf Tibetan ever to have competed in a National Chess Championship of the Deaf — not just once, but twice.

Despite the feat, the 31-year-old, who recently competed in the 26th National Chess Championship of the Deaf, held from 16-20 February in Nagpur,  has a simple yet profound message for all – to keep one’s hobbies alive. 

“Everyone is busy in day-to-day life, but we must keep our hobbies alive,” Tenzin wrote to the publication in a brief note after the championship.

Chess, he says, is just a hobby. He does not train rigorously due to scarcity of time and participates in competitions whenever he gets the opportunity. Yet he has now competed in two national championships — the 25th in Mysore, where he placed 35th out of 122 players, and most recently the 26th, where he finished 73rd in what was by all accounts a deeply enriching experience.

“It was a very good learning experience in terms of moves, strategy and of course, cultural exchange,” he wrote.

He did not set out to be a pioneer. He simply followed his passion, one move at a time.

And that, perhaps, is exactly his point.