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Mehul Gohil (born 1981, Nairobi) is a writer and Kenya Chess Champion.
About writing:
'.. When I was ten years old the mall had a secondhand bookshop. It was my birthday and my dad said pick what you want. I wanted big thick books, not the picture books. The first books I picked up were Philip K. Dick, Samuel Delaney, and Fritz Leiber. I really thought Leiber was good and I understood Dick even as a kid. I liked that in Dick no one is surprised by the new technology—it’s normal and everyday. The spaceship lands and no one cares. ..'
http://strangehorizons.com/non-fict...
About chess:
Q: How were you introduced to the game of chess?
Gohil: I learnt chess by mistake way back in December 1992.
I was transitioning to Standard 5, and my dad took me to buy the textbooks for the new school year at Text Book Center. We did the book shopping. On reaching home, we realised the cashier made a mistake. Put in a book meant for another shopper.
That book was BEGIN CHESS by David Brine Pritchard . I spent the 1992 Christmas holidays learning the moves from the book. I learnt the moves then forgot about that book.
Then a few weeks later, over a weekend, I got bored at home. At random, I picked up the book again and flipped to the second chapter, which was on tactics. There I saw pins, forks, skewers, double-check etc. I was hooked as I found out the game had so much to it.
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Q: Did you have periods of stagnation?
Gohil: I just stopped playing chess during the years 1997 – 2002 to concentrate on my higher studies. Looking back, this was a significant mistake. Had I continued studying chess, I believe I would have been much stronger right now. I should not have neglected chess in those formative years.
(Excerpts from a diversified 'Interview with [2019] Kenya Chess Champion Mehul Gohil' by University of Nairobi Chess Club members, on July 17, 2020)
https://kenyachessmasala.com/2020/0...
Mehul Gohil receives KES 1,000 from Penny
https://i1.wp.com/africachessmedia....
Trivia: Mehul is an Indian male given name of Sanskrit origin, meaning rain or cloud. His great-grandfather was Indian.
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