Best Blind Players of India

We've already seen a video from ChessBase India (January 2018) in our long-running series on The Sociology of Chess (November 2016). For the previous post in the series, Fiske's 'Chess in Iceland' (July 2018), I featured a book ('The island of Iceland is an anomaly and a marvel') and in this post I'll feature another video, again from ChessBase India.

What chess means to the best blind players of India (10:33) • 'Published on Jul 20, 2018' [International Chess Day]

The clip is at times difficult to understand, but the message from the players is clear. Chess has helped them reach levels of personal achievement that would have been difficult without the game. The description idientifies the players:-

The national visually challenged team is present in Sofia, Bulgaria for the World Team Championship 2018. We ask the players Kishan Gangolli, Soundarya Kumar Pradhan, Ashvin Makwana, Aryan Joshi and Subhendu Patra about what chess means to them. We also have Charudatta Jadhav in the video, the IBCA and AICFB president who has played a key role to spread blind chess in the country.

IBCA is the International Braille Chess Association (ibca-info.org):-

FIDE is the apex body for chess amongst the sighted. Similarly the International Braille Chess Association (IBCA) is the apex body of chess for the blind and visually impaired and is in turn affiliated to FIDE. The main purpose of IBCA is to promote chess for the blind and visually impaired across the globe.

AICFB is the All India Chess Federation for the Blind (aicfb.org):-

The AICFB is affiliated to the International Braille Chess Association (IBCA), and through this affiliation has been able to integrate India with the rest of the blind chess playing world. AICFB is also affiliated to All India Chess Federation (AICF) which is recognized by Government of India.

According to Chess-results.com, the event was the 'VIII IBCA World Team Chess Championship for blind and visually impaired, Bulgaria, Sofia 20-31.07.2018' The India team finished 8th out of 16 teams:-

• B group • India 3rd/8
• 4th semifinal 5-8 place • Venezuela 2.5 - India 1.5
• 4th final 7-8 place • Romania 3.5 - India 0.5

In nearly every post about the 'The Sociology of Chess', ChessBase India has at one candidate on the video short list, usually several candidates. I'm sure we'll see one of them again.