India holds 34th national chess for visually challenged

Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2011

Hi everyone,

It is heartening to know that India has just held their 34th national chess event for visually challenged children. The winner was Ashwin Makhwana from Gujarat who said, "I have been playing chess full time." Currently rated the best national player he would be representing India in the international chess tourney for the visually challenged next year. You can read the full report at this link.

But how is the game for visually challenged different from the regular game? International Braille Chess Association, affiliated to FIDE, has guidelines for chess for the visually challenged according to which black squares are raised about 3-4 mm above the white squares.

The player is able to determine whether the square is a black or a white one by feeling the squares. Also, each of the square has a hole in the centre where the player can fix the piece.

The players can determine by feeling the shape of the piece, whether is it a pawn, bishop or knight, for instance. Also all the black pieces have a pin fixed on the head which helps the player from distinguishing a white piece from a black one.

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