Despite being born with the rare genetic disorder Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD), 15-year-old K S S R A Praneeth managed to carve a niche for himself in chess for the disabled.
He is a former junior national chess champion for the disabled and has been awarded a special prize for his ‘skills’ in the Brilliant Trophy Open online chess tournament where he finished third in the under-15 age category, writes Telangana Today.
While quoting his father K Srinivas Rao, Telangana Today writes, “Unfortunately, both my sons (Praneeth and his brother Sourie) suffer from the genetic disorder. But, they are very passionate about chess”.
Online Open Competition
The impact of Covid-19 had its impact as K S S R A Praneeth was forced to cut down on offline chess tournaments and focus more on online open chess competitions for the disabled.
Praneeth started taking chess seriously when he was 9 years old and has been training under Amit Singh at Maestro Chess Academy. His biggest achievement came in 2017 when he was crowned national champion at Trichy in Tamil Nadu. He held the number 1 spot in the junior category for some time.
Missing International Tournament
Being a DMD patient that requires treatment for his weakening muscles that keeps on degenerating due to the impact of the rare disease, Praneeth was eager to take part in an international offline competition in Israel organised by the International Association of Chess with Physical Disability (IPCA).
