How chess helped Bhavesh through his battle with cancer
Imagine a passion that stays with you through every chapter of life. A passion that is there when you are a child discovering the world, when you are searching for direction, when life suddenly becomes uncertain, and when you are trying to find your way back again. For Bhavesh Vyas, that passion is chess. It became a source of comfort, connection, and hope through some of the most challenging moments of his life, including a battle with cancer at the age of 22. Read on to discover how chess helped Bhavesh navigate life's toughest challenges and find joy again.
How I got introduced to chess
My name is Bhavesh Vyas. I started playing chess when I was 7 years old. I played casually till the age of 10-12 years. A chess coach was appointed at my school. My tournament journey started when I was selected for the school chess team for the state team chess tournament.
From the 9th standard, I began struggling with my mental health. I was able to study well with it till the 10th. But then I realised that I could be a winner in others’ eyes but a loser in my own eyes. I abandoned studying hard. But I didn’t stop playing chess even then.
From the 11th standard till I was in college, I played chess casually but not consciously. In the first year of college, I was selected as the Chess Games Coordinator. I organised a chess tournament and selected the college team of Thapar.
Pandemic and Chess
In the second semester of 1st Year, the pandemic started. We were told to go home for 20 days, which extended to 20 months. In the first 2 weeks, I was all in the zen mindset to abstain from the internet. But there was nothing to do. One day, while walking on the terrace, I saw a thumbnail featuring Samay, Sagar Sir, and Vidit. I clicked it, and there was no looking back.
Through these streams, I came to know about the chess players' real personalities. The streams of Sagar Sir and Samay were epic. There were tons of streams. The wolfpack (Anish, Vidit, Radjabov) was the favourite. I loved Radjabov's recommendation of a documentary:
My love for chess reignited. I published my first YouTube video on 15 July 2020:
I also opened my Instagram account dedicated to chess. I posted stories and memes. One of the memes was reposted by Anish Giri.
In 2022, I participated in a FIDE-rated tournament in my hometown, Bikaner. In the first 4 days, I won against 4 unrated players and lost against 4 rated players. On the last day, I won against a rated player and got a 1525 FIDE rating.
Now, it was time to get something out of the engineering course I did. My sister motivated me to prepare seriously for placements. I got placed in my present company. In the HR interview, they asked me about my chess rating and also asked me about the Hans-Magnus controversy.
Chess, Chaos, and Cancer
I joined the company (SpectraMedix) in July 2023. In 2 months, I had to undergo an operation for a pilonidal sinus. I wasn’t able to fully recover from it in the estimated time; it affected my office work. In Nov 2023, my right shoulder developed pain. After a few days, I went to the office, and in an hour, I couldn’t speak due to shortness of breath. Along with my 2 colleagues, I went to a hospital.
I told the doctor about my medical history. He advised me to continue the medicines and not to worry. Days went by, and the shoulder pain wasn't improving. Also, the pilonidal sinus hadn't recovered fully. After a few days, when I woke up, I wasn’t able to open my mouth properly due to shortness of breath. I conveyed my message through gestures. My father consulted a doctor.
Then, at night, I got my ECG done. It was fine, but I wasn’t. The next day, we consulted an orthopaedic surgeon; after hearing the story, he told us to have a chest X-ray. I also had an MRI. We consulted a doctor about the MRI. I wasn’t feeling well, so we went to a diagnostic centre, and they drained fluid from my lungs. The MRI was done the next day again. We consulted the doctor again. From there, we headed to an oncologist (but I didn’t know about it back then).
We went home. Everyone was gathered. When I saw everyone gathered, I asked, “What is wrong?” They replied, “Nothing much; we will go to Jaipur for further investigations and better treatment.” My sister and I were talking about this. I told her, “I am feeling stressed.” She replied, “If there had been something serious, they would have told us.” I said, “I know nothing is immediately serious because the ECG is fine, but something is serious, so it might be a tumour then.”
The next day, my parents and I went to Jaipur. I wasn’t aware of where I was heading until then. When the car reached there, I read the doctor's board, "oncology surgeon". It was at that time that I came to know that I might have a tumour. We entered the room. He asked, “What are the symptoms?” My father started answering, but he interrupted and told me to tell him everything. It was the first time I was about to hear that I had a tumour.
He told me, “You have cancer.” It was a life-changing moment. One hour ago, I had no idea which doctor I was going to see, and now I had been told that I had cancer. That evening, I underwent some scans and blood tests. The next day, I had my PET-CT done.
The PET-CT scans were out. We consulted the doctor. He explained the treatment plan. I had the same cancer as Yuvraj Singh. He said, “We need to start the chemotherapy as soon as possible, preferably tomorrow.” I had no time to think. To lighten up the mood, we went out for a walk. It took a week to get everything done before it started. I had a week before treatment started on 5th January 2024.
I was told that I would be treated in 4 cycles of chemotherapy. Each cycle had 3 sessions. The first session contained 40 hours of chemotherapy divided over 5 straight days. Then, after a break of 1 week, the second session: 4-5 hours of chemotherapy. Then, again after a week, the third session: the same 4-5 hours of chemotherapy.
After the 4th session, a PET-CT Scan was done. The results showed that the tumour wasn’t fully removed. The doctor told us that to completely cure it, an operation might be needed after 2 more sessions. It was the first time the operation was mentioned. I felt low and cried a bit for the first time.
After talking with my parents and sister, I knew I had to stay strong and complete the treatment. My parents and I went to a mall for a walk. My sister was in my hometown, taking care of the home.
In the 5th session, I was out of energy. I was not able to eat properly. I would vomit even after eating a normal amount of food. I ate semi-solid or light solid food in small chunks.
In the 6th session, I had to pump myself up to get it done. I managed to finish the 5 days. We were told to come back after 2 weeks to get the PET-CT scan done again. Alongside, we were searching for oncology surgeons, in case the tumour isn’t fully cured.
We came to Delhi to consult a doctor who was on the team that treated Yuvraj Singh. He told us to have an operation. We then consulted some doctors in Delhi, but we weren’t convinced. Also, on the same night, we discussed this with a man in our hometown who had a similar operation. He said, “It is a crucial and complex operation; go with the best.”
We decided to get the operation done by Dr. Ramakant Deshpande Ji at Asian Cancer Institute and ACI Cumballa Hospital. We consulted him on 26th June. And my operation was scheduled on 28th June. I was in the ICU from 28th June to the evening of 1st July. On the morning of 29th June, my father came to meet me and said, “The entire tumour has been removed.” I told him, “Don’t give me false hopes”. He said, “There is nothing left.” I wasn’t ready to believe it. My father confirmed it with the doctors, and they said everything was fine.
July 5th is my birthday. The day before it, I was told I would need a couple more days before I would be discharged. On 5th July, the doctor who was on the operation team congratulated me and told me, “As a gift, we are discharging you.” I felt very good. I then ate breakfast and slept for some time. I did my physiotherapy session. In the afternoon, I came to know that my birthday would be celebrated. It was all planned by the nursing and other staff members of the hospital.
After the celebration, there was uncertainty about whether I would need more chemotherapy sessions or not. In the evening, it was clear that I would not need any more chemotherapy sessions. This was the moment when I felt happy. It had been a long time since I felt really happy. I was discharged in the evening. There was another surprise waiting; my friends had arranged it with my sister and ordered a cake for me. We celebrated my birthday together.
Chess content creation journey
In August 2024, I started to post on my Instagram. On 12th September, I posted a game of Anas Khwira (1994) and Mamedyarov (2733), which ended in a draw. Anas collaborated on the post. My biggest breakthrough came on the same day that Vantika Agarwal collaborated on a post about her win, which I had posted. It has almost 20k views at present.
In December, I decided to cover the World Chess Championship on Instagram. It is easier to reach a newer audience via that platform. I uploaded the reel, and it got considerable views. I slowly tried to improve my speaking skills, background, and game analysis. It required persistence to continue recording every day, taking retakes, and captioning.
The biggest motivators were my sister and parents. My sister checked the video just after uploading and gave me advice. My parents gave me the mental and physical space to create the videos. Also, they gave feedback on them and shared them with others. Along with them, my cousin helped me with game analysis, and I recorded some of my videos at his academy.
From the 10th game onwards, I started getting significant views. It was because the game was becoming more interesting, and my videos were also getting better :). For the 11th game, I prepared a lot because I was excited that Gukesh had won a crucial game. It gained a lot of views. Then, the final game video exceeded my expectations. It got almost 4x the regular views.
In January 2025, we travelled to Mumbai for a follow-up visit. I tried my best to reach out to Sagar Sir and Amruta Ma’am. But I couldn't succeed. I messaged Temple of Chess on Instagram. They replied, “You are always welcome.” After the scan, we immediately reached the Temple of Chess in the hope of meeting them. But they weren’t available.
Chess coaching and chess cafe events
In February 2025, I got an opportunity to teach chess online at Upstep Academy to USA students. I became a community partner in CircleChess. In March 2025, I got my rejoining call to the office. In April 2025, I resigned from Upstep Academy and rejoined the office. In the first 2 weeks, I got fully focused in the office. I was then asked about the idea of chess cafe events.
I got busy with office work, but one day, a community member told me to be aware of a bug in tournament creation. My heart said, let’s try to create a tournament and organise it in Gurugram. I checked with Tina Popli from CircleChess, and she helped me create my first tournament. The tournament went live on 27th April 2025. I got 7 entries (6 were my friends).
I started organising events every month. On 20th July 2025, on the occasion of International Chess Day, I planned an event. My parents came from our hometown to visit my sister and me at the same time, too. So, they all came to the event. I organised almost 10 events until November 2025. The average number of registrations increased to 20 per event.
In January 2026, we again traveled to Bombay for my follow-up. I thought I would find a way to meet them, since I was in touch with Tushar Damor and Vidhi Karelia. But Tushar was unwell and Vidhi had left the Chessbase India Team. I sent a Superchat in one of the streams, and Sagar Sir said he was very busy and could not meet this time either.
Meeting Sagar Shah Sir
Now, the important part. One day, after coming back from the office, I was watching the stream of Chessbase India covering the Candidates Tournament. I used to watch it on and off (due to office work). In the stream, someone asked Sagar Shah, "What are your plans for Delhi?" He told us about his full plan, which included coming to Cut Coffee Paste on 25th April 2026.
I recorded this conversation and sent it to the owner of Cut Coffee Paste. We were in regular touch, but there was no confirmation until 22nd April. Tickets were booked for 24th April to join the reunion at my college (Thapar). I checked the assurance to meet Sagar Sir with the owner. I talked with one of my professors, told everything to my family, and cancelled the tickets.
I reached the cafe 45 minutes early. Then, at 4 pm, Sagar Shah Sir entered the cafe. My subconscious brain told me to capture the scene with my phone. Then, I remembered a quote: "The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched; they must be felt with the heart." So, I captured a photo but didn’t shoot a video of him entering.
He shook hands with us, got a seat, and settled down. He then saw my SuperKing T-shirt and complimented it, saying, “It is very new.” I told him that I had just opened the T-shirt that day. Then, WIM Shivika Rohilla came, and they both analysed the game between Vishy Sir and Gukesh at the GCL. After the analysis, everyone captured photos and selfies with him.
I was waiting for my turn. I got my turn and got a lovely photo with him. I then waited for some time and reached out to him. I told him about the two times I was in Mumbai and wanted to meet him; I also mentioned to him the reason why I was in Mumbai. Then, the owner of the cafe again told him my story. Sagar Sir asked me to write my story and send it to him.
While writing this, my younger cousin sent me a reel on the role of a grandfather. My grandfather left for his heavenly abode in March 2023. Anytime I had doubts about my willpower, I would remember how he, for 15 years, managed to fight different diseases. Also, my paternal and maternal grandmothers’ sacrifices and blessings have helped me throughout.
I have a friend named Gaurav. We became friends in the 1st class and were in the same school and coaching till the 11th class. Then, we talked on and off once a month or every two months till mid-2023. Now, we speak almost weekly and chat daily. The main topic is now chess :).
Heartfelt gratitude to my sister and parents for always being there for me. They give genuine advice. My sister takes time out to give feedback about everything I do. She motivates me to do better. My parents give me mental space and freedom. Also, they encourage me to continue doing good work. Words are not enough to show how important all three of them are. :)
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