How do blind people play chess?

Running Chess Tournaments
1

I know this topic is not appropriate for this category but I could not find another place to put it.

Anyways, I was just curious if there are any accessible ways for blind people to play chess. The concept of “Blind Chess” is too hard for a lot of people to master, expecially people who are not blind, including kids and teenagers.

If there any existing chess boards or online software that allows blind people to play chess, I would appreciate it if people can post up or email me the links to view them. Thanks.

2

The US Braille Chess Association is at crisscrosstech.com/usbca/
They have some links, including one to a supplier of living aids for the blind; their page of game equipment at independentliving.com/produc … rd%20Games
includes braille chess sets (peg sets with a little knob on the top of the pieces to distinguish white from black), and a tactile chess clock.

You can find more by googling on “braille chess”.

Regards,
-ed g.

3

There is a section in the USCF rulebook dealing with blind and other handicapped players.

In the case of blind players, they usually use a pegged set. A piece is not consdered ‘touched’ until it has been removed from the square it is on.

4

I knew a blind chess player very well. He and I played often, (although I got the feeling that he wanted company more than competition since he beat me most of the time) but that was quite a few years ago. Anyway, he had a small (maybe 14"x14") board with wooden pieces. Each piece had a unique feel on the top of it, and the black pieces had a little point in the middle of them. He would make his move and then tell you (in algebraic notation) what his move was (or you could just peak and cheat). Then you would make your move, and tell him what you moved. Once in a while we would get different positions, but since I was writing it down (and he had a great memory), we could easily find where we went wrong.

5

I had the honor of being paired against Al Sandrin at least once. He would play using a standard board and pieces, without any special equipment. All his opponent had to do was announce his move, and every so often tell him how much time he had remaining.

Al Sandrin had such a good feel for the board, that if a piece was off center on its original square, then after he moved it, it would be off center on its new square, by exactly the same amount, in exactly the same direction.

I never defeated Al Sandrin in a tournament game.

Bill Smythe