TedxGGI : 64 Squares of Life: Decoding Chaos with Grandmaster Thinking | Nikhil Dhir | TEDxGGI

Nikhil Dhir, Managing Director of Paramount Chess, talks about turning his passion for chess into a business. He describes learning chess with his mother, starting a venture while working a corporate job, and facing challenges such as the COVID-19 lockdown, a factory fire and floods. The talk stresses that ideas need action, sacrifice and persistence to become real progress. The speech is delivered in Hindi as a TEDx talk organized independently by a local community. It is aimed at entrepreneurs and anyone weighing a risky step before everything is ready.

• Building Paramount Chess from an initiative started during engineering studies
• Financial risks, the COVID-19 lockdown, a factory fire and floods
• Why action and persistence matter more than ideas alone

In this talk, Nikhil Dhir shares his journey of turning a passion for chess into a real business. From learning chess alongside his mother and facing personal loss to building a venture while working a corporate job, he reflects on the courage required to turn ideas into reality. Through stories of humble beginnings, difficult decisions, financial risks, the COVID-19 lockdown, a factory fire, and devastating floods, he highlights resilience, perseverance, and the importance of taking the next move even when life feels uncertain. His message is simple: ideas alone are not enough; real progress comes through action, sacrifice, and the determination to keep moving forward. Nikhil Dhir is the Managing Director of Paramount Chess, a chess-products business he built from an entrepreneurial initiative during his engineering years at Thapar University. A Mechanical Engineering graduate, he began by supplying and trading chess products before turning his passion for chess into a growing business. His journey was shaped by personal challenges and early entrepreneurial experiences that taught him patience, perseverance, customer understanding, and commitment. Through Paramount Chess, he combines his love for the game with business-building, demonstrating the value of taking initiative, learning through experience, and starting before everything is perfect. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx