I learnt chess from my uncle when I was about 10yrs old. Played only a few games with him though. Played a few more games with classmates ~10yrs later - when studying for my engineering degree.

Regular thrashing by a certain "TeeMu" cured me of any enthusiasm. Picked it up again around April 2008 and started playing with my brothers, cousins and friends. Now I am hooked! This time, I went through the basics, learned a bit about openings, etc., and started winning more often. Joined chess.com as a way to interact with an old friend (thanks, INAR). Now I think I am incurably addicted. Many thanks to all the people who played with me here and encouraged me.

I am an independent consultant working in IT and Telecom areas; advising mostly on technology to managers and management to technologists. Apart from being a Chess-enthusiast, I am also involved with the SMILE Charitable Trust - working on bringing education to the underprivileged.

I started the Chess.com group - The Hyderabad Biryani (in Oct 2008), with the main aim of getting to know fellow players in my city; as well as play OTB games with them. Though it is still a small group, we now have players from all over the state. We (this group) now represent the state of AP in the Indian Chess League.

I am also a member of the "Learning with fun" group. It is a great group of very nice people. and I've benefited immensely from it.

Sas3