The All India Chess Federation for the Blind (AICFB) is the governing body for the game of Chess among

visually impaired Visual impairment, also known as vision impairment, is a medical definition primarily measured based on an individual's better eye visual acuity; in the absence of treatment such as correctable eyewear, assistive devices, and medical treatment� ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. It was formed in 1997 with a view to promoting the game of chess among the visually impaired all over the country. It is registered under Society Registration Act, 1860; Public Trust Act, 1951 and Income Tax Act, 1961 – Section 12A.

Aims and objectives

Although the main objective of the organisation is to promote the game among the visually impaired all over

, the organisation has a set of aims and objectives such as *Forming state associations in all the states in the country *Providing playing opportunities to all players all over the country. *Publishing and provide

Braille Braille (Pronounced: ) is a tactile writing system used by people who are visually impaired, including people who are Blindness, blind, Deafblindness, deafblind or who have low vision. It can be read either on Paper embossing, embossed paper ...

books on chess to help players develop their game. *Building an audio-cassette library, which provides information and analysis of

chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to disti ...

games. *Making available computers, relevant software etc. *Organizing seminars and coaching camps. *Interacting with the government and introduce chess as a subject in blind schools. *Organizing local, regional and National level tournaments. *Sending teams to participate in International chess tournaments. *Affiliating to the International

Chess Association and represent

on International forum for blind chess. *Organizing international tournaments, seminars etc. *Identifying the talent at early stage and groom them to represent the country at world championships. *Design system to transform chess for the blind in the country and serve the vision of making India one of the top three countries in the world for chess for the blind.

Affiliations

The AICFB is affiliated to the

International Braille Chess Association The International Braille Chess Association (IBCA) is organization for blind and visually impaired chess players. The IBCA is a FIDE-affiliated chess organization as well as a part of the International Blind Sports Federation. The International ...

(IBCA) in 1998 and

All India Chess Federation The All India Chess Federation (AICF) is central administrative body for the game of chess in India. Founded in 1951, the federation is affiliated to Fédération Internationale des Échecs (FIDE), the world body for chess. The AICF has produce ...

. Through this affiliation the AICFB has been able to integrate

with the rest of the blind chess-playing world.

Affiliated states

The AICFB has a number of affiliated state bodies and more than 2500 active chess players under it all over

. *

Haryana Haryana (; ) is an Indian state located in the northern part of the country. It was carved out of the former state of East Punjab on 1 Nov 1966 on a linguistic basis. It is ranked 21st in terms of area, with less than 1.4% () of India's land ar ...

Karnataka Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karnat ...

Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising ...

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...

Uttaranchal Uttarakhand ( , or ; , ), also known as Uttaranchal ( ; the official name until 2007), is a state in the northern part of India. It is often referred to as the "Devbhumi" (literally 'Land of the Gods') due to its religious significance and ...

Rajasthan Rajasthan (; lit. 'Land of Kings') is a state in northern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the largest Indian state by area and the seventh largest by population. It is on India's northwestern si ...

Maharashtra Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a states and union territories of India, state in the western India, western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the List of states and union te ...

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to the ...

Jharkhand Jharkhand (; ; ) is a state in eastern India. The state shares its border with the states of West Bengal to the east, Chhattisgarh to the west, Uttar Pradesh to the northwest, Bihar to the north and Odisha to the south. It has an area of . It ...

Bihar Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West Be ...

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...

Odisha Odisha (English: , ), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is an Indian state located in Eastern India. It is the 8th largest state by area, and the 11th largest by population. The state has the third largest population of ...

Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh (, ; meaning 'central province') is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal, and the largest city is Indore, with Jabalpur, Ujjain, Gwalior, Sagar, and Rewa being the other major cities. Madhya Pradesh is the seco ...

Events

Till now the AICFB has organised 19 Zonal levels chess tournaments, 9 National tournaments & sent

n teams 12 times to participate in the

World Chess Championship The World Chess Championship is played to determine the world champion in chess. The current world champion is Magnus Carlsen of Norway, who has held the title since 2013. The first event recognized as a world championship was the World Chess ...

. It has also organised the first ever

Asian Chess Championship The Asian Chess Championship is a chess tournament open to all players from Asian chess federations ( FIDE zones from 3.1 to 3.7). It's held with the Swiss system and consists in two divisions, Open and Women's, the latter of which is reserved to f ...

in December 2003, which was the first International chess tournament in

and the 11th Individual World Chess Championship for the Blind 2006 which was held outside

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

, in

for the very first time. Sixteen Indian teams have participated in various world events in the last ten years and the last one even returned with a gold medal from the

Chess Olympiad for the Blind The Blind Chess Olympiad is an international chess competition for the Visual impairment, blind in which Chess team, teams from all over the world compete against each other. The event takes place every four years, and is sponsored by the Internat ...

held at

Crete Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, and ...

in October 2009. Th
14th IBCA Chess Olympiad
was also hosted in

by AICFB in August 2012. In the year 2019, the Federation head disclosed that annually the Federation conducts 35-40 tournaments with 5 National,4 Zonal, and rest National A and B tournaments, and FIDE-rating contests. In year 2019, for the first time since its inception the Organisation had hosted the first National School Chess Championship for the Blind at the Mumbai Maratha Fruitwala Dharamshala, Alandi, in which at least 200-plus players participated in the categories of u-10, u-12, u-14, u-16 and open categories for other age groups and is designed to be played Swiss League Format. In 2019, the AICFB had also launched Chess Mitra, an app for the blind. Till year 2016, All India Chess Federation for the Blind has more than 22,000 registered members, with more than 1,300 who play in national-level events. Among them, 161 are rated in world, and to promote the players in competitions, Zonal events help players qualify for the National B and then National A, which is currently the highest level of tournament nationally. In the year 2018, Indian batting great

Sachin Tendulkar Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar (; ; born 24 April 1973) is an Indian former international cricketer who captained the Indian national team. He is regarded as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket. He is the all time highest run-scor ...

had promised to support the National Chess Championship for the visually challenged during a blind chess tournament in which 14 blind players from across the country had participated being the prestigious event as the final winner was crowned India's National Blind Chess Champion for that year.{{cite news , title=Other Sports News: Latest News from Volleyball, Badminton and Olympics Games , url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/sports/others , access-date=5 April 2021 , publisher=Hindustan Times , date=8 February 2018 , language=en

Professional training program

According to Charudutta, the founder of the AICFB, the organisation has identified 38 schools in 16 states to initiate a programme for professional training. National Executive Council * Charudatta V Jhadav (President) * Ram Niwas Varma (Vice President North Zone) * Kishan Gangolli (Vice President South Zone) * Amar Kumar Sharma (Vice President East Zone) * Madan V Bagayatkar (Vice President West Zone) * Manish Dnyaneshwar Thool (General Secretary) * Vignesh R (Joint Secretary South Zone) * Viral Hitendrbhai Trivedi (Joint Secretary West Zone) * Swapnil Navalchand Shah (Treasurer)

References

External links

Official Website of AICFB
Chess organizations Chess in India 1997 establishments in Maharashtra Sports governing bodies in India Blindness organisations in India Organisations based in Mumbai