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Date: 11 Feb 2008 16:32:36
From: Chess One
Subject: Does anyone know any unsighted players
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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? Phil Innes
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Date: 13 Feb 2008 08:55:06
From:
Subject: Re: Does anyone know any unsighted players
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On Feb 11, 4:32=A0pm, "Chess One" <[email protected] > wrote:
> I am currently playing a blind player from Yugoslavia, ["Mr. M."] =A0he 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? =A0Phil Innes
A member of my local club played a blind man in the under-1400
section of the 1996 World Open. The man used a tactile board. The game
isn't very good, both players were rather low-rated, but here it is:
J. Buzas (USCF 1366) - A. Perese (1224, blind), Philadelphia, 1996: 1.
d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. Bg5 h6 4. Bxf6 Qxf6 5. e3 c5 6. c3 d5 7. Bd3 Nd7
8. Nbd2 Bd6 9. O-O O-O 10. Re1 b6 11. e4 Bf4 12.e5 Qe7 13. g3 Bxd2 14.
Qxd2 f6 15. Nh4 Qd8 16. f4 fxe5 17. fxe5 Qc7? 18. Bg6?!
Missing 18. Qc2! Re8 19. Bh7+ Kh8 20. Rf1 Nf8 21. Rxf8+ Rxf8 22. Ng6+
Kxh7 23. Nxf8+ Kg8 24. Rf1 and wins.
18... Ba6 19. Qc2 cxd4??
A blunder; better 19... Rfc8.
20. Bh7+ Kf7 21. Qg6+ Ke7 22. Qxg7+ Kd8 23. cxd4 Qc4 24. Qg4 Nxe5!?
Objectively not good, but trappy and worth a try in a losing
situation. If now 25.Rxe5? Rf1+!.
25. Qd1?
Missing the refutation: 25. Qxe6 Qxd4+ 26. Kh1 Nd7 27. Bf5 Qg7 28. Ng6
etc.
25... Qxd4+??
Finally the sort of blunder one might expect from a blind person,
leaving his queen en prise.
26. Qxd4 1-0.
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Date: 13 Feb 2008 12:42:35
From: David Richerby
Subject: Re: Does anyone know any unsighted players
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Chess One <[email protected] > 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.
--
David Richerby Disgusting Mentholated Robot (TM):
www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~davidr/ it's like a high-tech robot but
it's invigorating and it'll turn
your stomach!
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Date: 13 Feb 2008 10:27:43
From: Chess One
Subject: Re: Does anyone know any unsighted players
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"David Richerby" <[email protected] > wrote in message
news:xul*[email protected]...
> Chess One <[email protected]> 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).
How strange! About 3 or 4 years ago some audio resources started to become
available for unsighted players - and I think it was early last year an
Indian company worked out a good system which I think contained a
text-to-audio //specific// to chess pieces moves captures, etc. I have
forgotten its name - but good stuff from that company, since I think it was
all pro-bono development.
Anyway, my opponent just resigned one of our games, and the quality of his
chess seemed very reasonable here - kept on fighting til the end. As above,
no-way I could play this well [even at corres] without sight of the board.
white/ pi
black/ m
1. e2-e4 c7-c5 2. Ng1-f3 Nb8-c6 3. d2-d4 cxd4 4. Nf3xd4 g7-g6 5. c2-c4
Bf8-g7 6. Bc1-e3 Ng8-f6 7. Nb1-c3 O-O 8. Bf1-e2 d7-d6 9. O-O Qd8-c7 10.
Ra1-c1 Bc8-e6 11. Nd4xe6 fxe6 12. Nc3-b5 Qc7-d7 13. f2-f3 a7-a6 14. Nb5-d4
Nc6xd4 15. Be3xd4 Nf6-h5 16. Bd4xg7 Kg8xg7 17. Qd1-d4 e6-e5 18. Qd4-e3
Nh5-f4 19. g2-g3 Nf4-h3 20. Kg1-g2 Ra8-c8 21. b2-b3 g6-g5 22. Rf1-d1 g5-g4
23. fxg4 Nh3-f4 24. gxf4 exf4 25. Qe3-d4 Kg7-g6 26. e4-e5 Rc8-d8 27. Qd4-e4
Kg6-g5 28. h2-h4 Kg5-h6 29. e5-e6 Qd7-c6 30. Rd1-d5 Kh6-g7 31. Be2-f3 Rf8-f6
32. Qe4-d4 Qc6-e8 33. g4-g5 Qe8-g6 34. Bf3-h5 1-0
Phil Innes
>
> Dave.
>
> --
> David Richerby Disgusting Mentholated Robot
> (TM):
> www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~davidr/ it's like a high-tech robot
> but
> it's invigorating and it'll
> turn
> your stomach!
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Date: 13 Feb 2008 01:27:04
From: help bot
Subject: Re: Does anyone know any unsighted players
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On Feb 12, 6:51 am, "Chess One" <[email protected] > 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? Phil Innes
>
> > A player named Joe Kennedy, from Indiana, won the
> > 1994 U.S. Blind Championship, but that appears to be
> > his last rated event. As I recall, he used a funky chess
> > board which likely threw off a lot of sighted opponents,
> > although they had the option of insisting on a separate
> > board with "normal" colors.
>
> Considering the mutual disadvantages, this is still something to achieve.
That's a rather odd "interpretation" of my
anecdote. I merely related some facts; there
was no disparagement of JK's achievement
intended or implied.
I simply find it interesting that some players
would feel awkward about asking to set up
another board alongside his, and so ended
up playing on, say, a red and green set (or
whatever the odd colors were) they were not
accustomed to. Joe Kennedy was legally
blind, but he could still see, and was not so
handicapped as the other fellow I mentioned,
the one who felt the pieces on a special peg
set for blind players.
Another awkward situation is where the
handicapped player gets himself into time
pressure; what to do? If you clock-beat him,
you appear to be a mercenary scumbag, who
exploits the off-the-board advantage of hand
speed and coordination; but if you allow
yourself to lose, you look like a putz on the
chart because you were "outplayed" by a
fellow who could not even see the board. : >D
Speaking of handicaps, I recently discovered
a local tournament which apparently had a
"senior" section, populated by many names
I recall from the bad old days when I was a
younger bot; what is the "normal" cutoff for
such tourneys? Fifty? Sixty? I might be
able to compete (at last!) if you exclude all
the young whippersnappers who speedily
get ahead on the clock and leave me huffing
and puffing to catch up at time control. If
only I could dye my chips gray and grow a
long beard... .
-- help bot
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Date: 11 Feb 2008 17:08:54
From:
Subject: Re: Does anyone know any unsighted players
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There is a list of U.S. Braille Chess Association tournament winners
at http://www.crisscrosstech.com/usbca/winnerslist.html. (Oddly
enough, they use a *very large* type size.) I think it corresponds to
the U.S. Blind Championship, but I'm not absolutely certain. The late
Al Sandrin was probably of master strength at his peak.
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Date: 12 Feb 2008 00:17:15
From: Andy Walker
Subject: Re: Does anyone know any unsighted players
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In article <[email protected] >,
Chess One <[email protected] > wrote:
> [...] Does
>anyone out there know any unsighted players?
Well, yes; quite a few. In the UK, the Braille Chess
Association has a website at "http://www.braillechess.org.uk",
and runs a team currently lying 2nd in Div 4 of the 4NCL. Many
other countries have similar teams/organisations; there are
some links at the site just mentioned.
--
Andy Walker
Nottingham
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Date: 11 Feb 2008 16:10:47
From: help bot
Subject: Re: Does anyone know any unsighted players
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On Feb 11, 4:32 pm, "Chess One" <[email protected] > 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? Phil Innes
A player named Joe Kennedy, from Indiana, won the
1994 U.S. Blind Championship, but that appears to be
his last rated event. As I recall, he used a funky chess
board which likely threw off a lot of sighted opponents,
although they had the option of insisting on a separate
board with "normal" colors.
I also recall playing a much weaker blind opponent
many, many years ago; this fellow used a peg set,
and was truly 100% blind. He asked me to keep
score for him, on a separate sheet and using the old
descriptive notation, and I willingly obliged only to find
myself in time trouble as a result! It is very easy to
underestimate someone who can't see what's going
on on the board, by assuming that /you can/!
-- help bot
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Date: 12 Feb 2008 06:51:32
From: Chess One
Subject: Re: Does anyone know any unsighted players
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"help bot" <[email protected] > wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> On Feb 11, 4:32 pm, "Chess One" <[email protected]> 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? Phil Innes
>
> A player named Joe Kennedy, from Indiana, won the
> 1994 U.S. Blind Championship, but that appears to be
> his last rated event. As I recall, he used a funky chess
> board which likely threw off a lot of sighted opponents,
> although they had the option of insisting on a separate
> board with "normal" colors.
Considering the mutual disadvantages, this is still something to achieve. A
Russian bloke of master strength once gave me a set of 'Grandmaster' pieces,
so of course, we had to play a game with it, but we didn't have a board. So
we set the pieces up on one of those wire-mesh benches and 'imagined' where
the board was. Fortunately, most of the pieces came off early, and we agreed
to a draw at move 30 - but I had a headache! [it was also 95 degrees]
> I also recall playing a much weaker blind opponent
> many, many years ago; this fellow used a peg set,
> and was truly 100% blind.
This same Russian player also made sensory boards, and I believe one of his
earliest designs was for a strange looking stepped-board, with pegholes -
only it could either record your move to computer, or transmit it over the
net.
> He asked me to keep
> score for him, on a separate sheet and using the old
> descriptive notation, and I willingly obliged only to find
> myself in time trouble as a result! It is very easy to
> underestimate someone who can't see what's going
> on on the board, by assuming that /you can/!
Well, there's a point.
I mostly play corres chess now on computer, maybe about 20 games at any
time - and there is the complete luxury of seeing an incoming move, looking
at the position for 5 seconds - and if nothing happens - that is, no
insight, /pass!/, and move to the next game.
As soon as I start to think about the move, I know I saw nothing; therefore
/pass/ to the next game without moving. After 3 or 4 looks, then thinking is
all that's left, so I do that. :(
But most of the time I don't see into the position! And that is mortifying.
There is another phenomena where you effortlessly see everything - sometimes
people call it 'the flow', [and in most noted in chess, but I think it
happens elsewhere] but I have rarely experienced that.
Phil Innes
>
> -- help bot
>
>
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