The National A Chess Championship For The Blind 2018 By The AICFB Needs Our Attention And Support

When it comes to sports, apart from Cricket and perhaps now over time a little bit of Football and Kabaddi, India does not really know or pay attention to any others that exist.

The National A Chess Championship For The Blind that is organized by the All India Chess Federation for the Blind (AICFB) is to be held from 3^rd to 11^th February 2018.

However, the unfortunate thing is that currently, they have no sponsors as the ones who were going to support the event have not come forward. The organizers are still bravely going ahead with the organization of the event.

But in order to fully be able to host the event, they need Rs. 5,00,000 for the lodging, boarding, and prizes for the tournament.

The visually challenged chess players of our country need our support and motivation and we must not let them down.

If you aren’t able to contribute money, you can always help by sharing this article and spreading the word.

As per Chess Base, a chess news blog, all three medals at the Asian Blind Championships 2017 went to the Indians. Kishan Gangolli a 25-year-old visually challenged player had made his country proud by winning the gold medal at the Asian Blind Championships held in April 2017 in Bangalore, India. Indians made a clean sweep at that championship with Ashvin Makvana winning the silver and Soundarya Pradhan getting the bronze! Later that year team India went to the Blind Olympiad in Macedonia with Kishan winning the individual bronze medal.

You could say that the Indian blind chess was on the rise. These youngsters needed more motivation and exposure to ensure that their talent comes out to the world at large. They needed more backing, they needed more support. Just when you think that things should go well for them and funds should flow in, you witness an unbelievable scene. The National Premier Blind Championships about to begin in a day from now – 3rd of February 2018, has no sponsors.

List of participants for the National Premier Blind 2018:

Read More: Why I Hate Watching Cricket (But Love The Game)

The National Premier Blind Championships 2018 are to be held from the 3rd to the 11th of February 2018 at the Andheri Sports Complex in Mumbai. 14 of the best blind players of India will fight it out to decide who becomes the national champion. If you were to think about it, chess is the only sport where blind players can compete on an equal footing with sighted players. There is just one Elo rating and in order to become an IM/GM you need to reach 2400/2500 rating with three norms just like a sighted player. Chess for blind players is an extremely important discipline that needs to be supported and boosted in our country. But instead of getting additional backing, the most important event for the blind – National Premier has currently no sponsors.

The president of AICFB Charudatta Jadhav also released a statement regarding the sponsorship issue:

“We are struggling this time to get sufficient support to conduct the National Premier for the blind which is very sad. Only HPCL has agreed to support up to Rs. 50,000 (verbal confirmation). Other than this, we don’t have any support for this prestigious championship as all the major sponsors have not come forward. In spite of doing extremely well at the international level and also playing a leading role at the world level to scale blind chess, at home, blind chess is struggling to get its due recognition. This has started impacting the motivation levels of the players which is not a good sign.

In spite of this, we are bravely going ahead with the organization of the National Premier 2018. The following are our expenses:

Expenses for the event:

Lodging for the players (1 player + 1 accompanying person): Rs. 2,05,000

Boarding: Rs. 1,35,000

Tables, chair, sound system, stage etc: Rs. 70,000

Prizes and trophies: Rs. 1,25,000

Arbiter, live games (board rent): Rs. 27,000

Total: Rs. 5,62,000

Less: Rs. 50,000 (HPCL sponsorship)

Money required: Rs. 5,12,000.”

You can help a lot by making a small donation. It could be any amount. You can contribute as per your ability. Your small gesture will ensure that the biggest national blind chess event takes place and the players get their due.

All the money collected will be transferred to AICFB.

You can also contribute directly to the bank of AICFB. Here are the bank details:

All India Chess Federation For The Blind

Indian Bank

SB a/c: 415222082

IFSC: IDIB000B027

Address:  Ground floor, United India Building, Sir P. M. Road, Fort Branch, Mumbai – 400001.

ED Times has no financial interest with AICFB or this tournament. We are doing it purely to support the cause and initiative.

Image Credits: Google Images

Source: Chess Base India

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