30 visually challenged chess players selected for SZ tournament

PNS|Vijayawada

About 80 players of the Chess Association for Visually Challenged of Andhra Pradesh, (CAVCAP) participated in the selection trials conducted by the All India Chess Federation for the Blind (AICFB) at Government Women’s College Guntur on December 10 and 11. Thirty participants were selected for the next level. The selected players will play in the South Zone tournament to be held in Bangalore from January 5 to 7.

As the chess tournament was conducted for the first time for the visually challenged in Andhra Pradesh, the organisers were looking for sponsors and Tahera Trust headed by Zahera Begum came forward.

Zahara Begum said that it was a challenging task to arrange all the requirements needed for the tournament for the visually challenged.

She said that the game for the visually challenged was slightly different from the normal chess game. The chess boards for visually challenged people are especially adapted. The white squares are raised and the black squares are sunken. After making every move, the visually impaired person is required to announce the move aloud, so that his opponent comes to know of the move. Instead of writing the moves on a Score Sheet, the visually impaired player writes the moves in Braille.

G Ravindra Babu, president of the Visually Challenged Employees’ Association distributed T-shirts to the players. The matches were witnessed by Guntur Mayor Kavati Manohar and Narasaraopet MP, L Sri Krishnadevarayalu along with others.