Mumbai: Louis Braille, the creator of braille once said, “Live without seeing, but be what you are.” And indeed he is right. Kishan Gangolli who lives in a small town of Kundapur (Karnataka), now settled in Shivamooga, did something extraordinary. He won the IBCA Asian chess championship for visually challenged people.
With seven points he triumphed the competition and took away a prize money of Rs 50,000. On second and third positions, Makwana Ashvin and Soundarya Kumar Pradhan both with six points each won Rs 40,000 and Rs 30,000 respectively. The decision between the second and the third spots was taken by bringing into account the ratings of the players as both of them scored six points each. So, taking the ratings into consideration, Ashvin won the silver medal and Pradhan won the bronze medal.
Facing a very young Aryan B Joshi (Maharashtra) into the finals, Gangolli offered a draw at a very early phase of the game. A draw was the only thing needed for him to win the championship and that’s when Joshi agreed to take in the game, marking Gangolli the champion. Joshi, with 5 points in his bag took away the prize money of Rs 20,000. The synchronicity between the three finishers was such that all of them had decided to go for a tie with their adversaries.
“It would be fun… it would be fun to have a blindfold match against the sighted players,” said the 4-time world champion. For Gangolli, with only 25% of his vision functional, it is difficult for him to execute the day to day activity. With, the percentage of his sight, he can barely differentiate between colours. Simply, this disability of his turns into a booming advantage when it comes to chess. The gold medallist added, “Naturally, we form an image in the head. The board, the pieces, the various combinations are all there. Our special power is imagination. In that aspect, we are second to none.”
Blind chess has the same rules and regulations as the normal chess, but with some modifications. For the normal players, their only power is to touch the pieces and process the moves, but for a visually impaired person, the sense of touch plays a very significant role. In this championship, the players are allowed to touch the chess pieces, which is not allowed in normal chess. Once you pick up the pieces you have to make a move.
To individualise between the black and white pieces, the black pieces are fitted with a pin on the top which makes it easy for the player to feel the difference. And, even the chess board is designed in a specific way for them. The black boxes are raised at a height of 3-4 mm so that they can make their moves. And the players are advised to tell their moves in an audible manner.
Charudatta Jadhav, the President of India’s blind chess association said, “In the past, we invited sports ministers like Mani Shankar Aiyyar and Ajay Maken for our events. They came, had a look, and praised the events. But nothing came out of it. We invited Vijay Goel (the incumbent Union sports minister) for the Asian Chess Championship recently but he couldn’t make it. Still, when many European countries give special status to blind chess, why can’t India?” It’s sad to see that in a country where the sports ministry can spend crores of rupees on a single sport but doesn’t even care about giving opportunities to the people who are talented.
Through a letter Prime Minister Narendra Modi wished the players for the tournament. As much as people need your wishes they also demand a platform and support from your government to showcase their talent, Mr Modi.
(With inputs from thefield.scroll.in and Deccan Chronicle)