Chess legend Viswanathan Anand meets blind chess players at Mumbai championship

The legendary chess player Viswanathan Anand met with the 14 players competing at the National A Chess Championship for the visually challenged in Mumbai.

Anand, who is a five-time world champion, said he had been following the progress of each player and was happy and amazed to see how determined they were as they went about playing their best in the race for the World Championship.

The top five winners of the National A Championship are – Kishan Gangolli, Ashvin Makwana, Soundarya Pradhan, Aryan Joshi and Subhendu Kumar Patra. They will play for India at two upcoming world events later this year.

Anand shared some interesting tips on ways to defeat the opponent. The 48-year-old player said he had great respect for the blind players as they have an excellent memory and visual imagery of the game to play against sighted players.

He also hoped that blind chess would soon get the recognition it deserved.

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