BRAILLE CHESS ASSOCIATION OF IRELAND
By Philip Doyle
The Braille Chess Association of
Ireland was established in 1985 to
promote Chess among the blind and
partially sighted. The BCAI is
affiliated to the International Braille
Chess Association, the Irish Chess
Union and Irish BlindSports.
The BCAI organises teams and
individuals to represent Ireland at
international level. At home we hold
our own Irish Championship and this
is used as a basis for team selection.
In addition to the Championship,
there is a very successful
international
Tournament
with
players coming from many parts of
the world to participate.
Website: www.bcai.net/
THE BRITISH BRAILLE CHESS
ASSOCIATION
Many Irish players are also members
of the British Braille Chess
Association, which organises a
variety of tournaments, both Overthe-Board and by Correspondence
and these events are suitable for all
standards. The BCA has a Braille
library of Chess books as well as a
more extensive cassette library,
containing information on all aspects
of the game. In addition to their
quarterly Gazette which appears in
several formats, the BCA produce a
number of other periodicals on
cassette. Website: www.braillechess.org.uk/
THE INTERNATIONAL BRAILLE
CHESS ASSOCIATION
The International Braille Chess
Association organises the team
Olympiad and World Cup and the
World Individual Championship and
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these are held at four-yearly
intervals. In addition, there are
European, under 21, Women's and
correspondence
Championships.
Website: www.ibca-info.org
CHESS EQUIPMENT
The blind player uses an adapted
board, with the white squares slightly
lower than the black. Each piece has
a peg at the bottom, which is inserted
into a hole in the centre of the square
on which it stands, so that it remains
steady while the position is being
examined manually. Also one set of
pieces have small dots on the top, so
that they can be distinguished from
the other set.
Opponents use
separate boards and call the moves
to each other. At international level,
where there is no common language,
the German Algebraic notation is
used, and this involves learning
about twenty German words. In
addition, a club player may use a
Braille Chess clock and a small tape
recorder or Braille device for noting
moves. For those living in Ireland,
Chess sets, clocks etc. can be
purchased from the National Council
for the Blind, 45 Whitworth Rd.,
Dublin 9. tel: 01 8307033.
Chess literature is available in
Braille, and to a greater extent on
cassette, although the choice is not
as great as one would like. Many
Chess computers and Chess
programmes for PCs can be used
successfully by blind players with the
aid of a synthetic voice. In addition,
e-mail has been adopted as an
exciting medium for playing
Correspondence Chess. Partially
sighted players require good lighting
plus a large easy-to-see Chess set.
Low vision aids are also useful when
it comes to reading small print in
Chess books.
SUMMING UP
Chess is said to be one of the few
sports where blind people can
compete independently and on equal
terms with their sighted counterparts
and while this assertion may be
largely true certain disadvantages
should not be overlooked.
(a) The fact that a blind player takes
slightly longer to survey the position
on the Chess board;
(b) The difficulty of knowing precisely
how much time is left on the clock;
(c) The shortage of suitable
information
on
the
latest
developments in Chess theory;
(d) The problem of mobility in a
crowded and perhaps unfamiliar
tournament venue;
(e) On the rare occasions when it
happens, not being able to observe
the antics of an unscrupulous
opponent.
Despite these obstacles, blind
players often reach very high levels
in Chess, with some even attaining
Master standard.
Philip Doyle (Public Relations
Officer)
Tel: 01 4072300 (office hours)
[email protected]
Irish Chess Journal