Chess One wrote:
I am currently playing a blind player from Yugoslavia, ["Mr. M."]
he is rated almost 1900 cc. He is not doing great with white or
black in our games, BUT if I also played blind he would take me to
the cleaners! Does anyone out there know any unsighted players?

I don't know any but I once played in a match where a member of the
opposition team was blind. He had a wooden tactile board -- one
colour of square was raised and the pieces were on pegs; I don't
recall if the pieces looked normal or if they'd been made easier to
recognize by touch -- and his sighted opponent had an ordinary board.
I think he also had a little Braille machine that he was using to
record his moves. They'd announce their moves to each other and each
used his preferred board. It was fascinating to watch and actually
very soothing to hear the gentle clanking as he ran his hands over the
tactile board.

The FIDE laws have an annexe covering rules for play by blind people

http://www.fide.com/official/handbook.asp?level=EE2

and it's bizarre. The tactile board *must* be at least 20cm square
and it is suggested that moves be announced in German, using people's
given names for the files but suggesting a different set (Anna, Bella,
Cesar, David, Eva, Felix, Gustav, Hector) to the usual German spelling
alphabet (Anton, Berta, Caesar, Dora, Emil, Friedrich, Gustav,
Heinrich, according to Wikipedia).


Dave.

--
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