Reda Saleem (Dubai)
In its 24th edition, the Dubai Open Chess Championship witnesses the participation of 3 blind players from the Philippines, which is the first time that blind players participate in the tournament.
The tournament organizing committee dealt with participation by preparing special tables for people of determination, in addition to having a referee with each player in order to help him record transfer data, and allocating a corner for people of determination in the tournament.
A team from the Philippines is participating, including 11 players, including players of people of determination. The organizing committee welcomed their participation and made all special arrangements for them inside the Dubai Chess and Culture Club hall, the organizer of the event.
International Mahdi Abdel Rahim, head of the tournament’s refereeing committee, confirmed that the blind player plays at his own table and faces healthy players, and the blind person deals with the table by touch. This is the first time that this number of people of determination participate in the tournament, and also for the first time, in which a number of people of determination participate. Blind players in the tournament since its inception.
He added: “The blind player has special tools and needs a volunteer to help him, and one of his assistant referees. I remember that in the 1990s there was a Syrian player named Nour Allah, and he was participating in Ramadan tournaments, and we had a blind player from the Al-Thiqa Club for the Disabled, who was participating in tournaments. The Asian Championship, which was held in the Emirates, witnessed the participation of a blind player, male and female, and we provided them with all the facilities. In the World Chess Olympiad, there is a corner for people of determination, including the blind, and they participate with normal people, and when an ordinary player has a match with a player of people of determination, he moves to it and does not “The table for people of determination changes, which is what we did in the Dubai Open.”
He pointed out that the players’ results are based on the points they scored in the tournaments, and not in a separate category because their participation came in the last days before registration closed, but there is a world championship of their own, and there is also a category in the World Olympics, for individuals and teams.
He noted that the blind player has the freedom to touch all the pieces, including the opposing player’s pieces, contrary to the law of misfits. Once a piece is touched, it must be moved, and these are technical matters that must be taken into account.
Team manager James Infisto said: “This is the first time we are participating in the tournament, and our goal is always to integrate people of determination with normal people through their participation in such tournaments. We have in the team 3 players who are completely blind, in addition to players who have severe vision impairment, in addition to players People of determination in wheelchairs.
On the other hand, the championship lead changed after the third round, as it was limited to two players who achieved the full score of 3 points, namely the Indian Aruniyak Ghosh after his victory over the Turkish Sanal Vahab, and the Turkish Yagiz Can after his victory over the Armenian Eric Hakobyan, while our player Ibrahim Sultan tied with the Turkish Emre Can. , continuing to achieve distinguished results by achieving two and a half points out of three, without any loss, while the first seed, Indian Raunak Raunak Sadhwani, tied with Chinese Dai Shangren, and each of them scored 2.5 points.
In the Category B tournament, 4 players achieved full marks after the end of the third round. They were the Indian Bandi Srishti after her victory over Jordanian Anas Khuwayra, the Libyan Yousef Al-Hasdi after his victory over the Filipino Armaan Substi, the Indian Sharma Taksh after his victory over Zambian Mashuta, and the Indian Vihan. Dumar after his victory over Uzbekistan’s Eldor, while our player Ahmed Farid tied with Kazakhstan’s Tamirov Bakhit, continuing his positive results without any loss after two wins and one draw.
#time. #blind #people #Dubai #International #Chess