Hello, guys!

Welcome to another blog! I will not make any mystery regarding what the topic is because it's already been written up there, but would you like to know why I decided to write about it and where the idea came from?

Okay, I can't know the answer, but I hope you said yes! So... the best thing about running a blog contest is that we get inspired by topics written by some amazing "unknown" bloggers who fill us with diverse and creative content. Things I would never have considered researching.

This time, I thought it would be a nice idea to go into more detail about professional Braille (or also called blind) chess. Please note that this is slightly different from simply playing blindfolded. Do you know how these people enjoy our beloved game? Check out my friend @Chesser1492's blog: How Can Blind People Play Chess? and find out!

In order not to be accused of stealing his work, my intention here will not be to explain all that again, but to explore the world of blind chess main tournaments, players, games, and historical events!

Below is the list of what we will learn together today. Let's go!

  ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. International Braille Chess Association

2. Blind Chess Olympiad

3. Top Players

4. Top Women Players

5. Top Junior Players

Conclusion

  ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

1. International Braille Chess Association

Firstly, it is important to clarify that FIDE is the supreme chess body for sighted players only. Similarly, the International Braille Chess Association (IBCA) is the equivalent federation for the blind and visually impaired. Although the latter is affiliated with FIDE, the two organizations maintain a strong relationship while still retaining their independence. The IBCA is also part of the International Blind Sports Federation.

Let's talk a bit about its history. It originated informally back in 1951 when Reginald Bonham organized the first international correspondence chess tournament for blind players. This event included twenty participants representing ten different countries. A few years later, in 1958, the first over-the-board tournament took place in Rheinbreitbach, Germany, with representatives from seven countries in attendance.

Although most of the rules of blind chess are similar to those of standard chess, there are a few modifications regarding equipment and recording moves. The following is a summary:

• All the black squares on the chessboard are raised approximately 3–4 mm above the white squares. The reason for this is simple: by feeling the squares, the player can tell whether they are black or white.

• The squares have a hole in the center for fixing the chess pieces in place. (I love how this reminds me of my first chessboard, which was handmade by my grandfather.)

• The pieces also naturally have a downward-projecting nail at their base that fits into the holes in the squares on the board, thereby fixing them securely in place.

• All the black pieces have a pin on their heads to help players distinguish between black and white pieces.

Or, if you couldn't be bothered to read all those boring bullet points, here is a picture summarizing everything.

After each move, players must announce it aloud to their opponent. The playing hall is likely much louder than usual, but okay. Also, instead of writing their moves on a chess score sheet, visually impaired players can either write them in Braille or record them on a voice recorder, which I think is much cooler.

Jörgen Magnusson currently presides over the IBCA and even runs his own YouTube channel (click here to help it grow). The federation has over 75 member nations worldwide and hosts two major competitions: the Blind Chess Olympiad and the Blind World Chess Championship. Read on to find out more about these competitions and some of the most famous top players!

  ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

2. Blind Chess Olympiad

The Blind Chess Olympiad is an international team competition for the blind. As the name suggests, it is very similar to the famous biennial chess tournament, in which countries from all over the world compete against each other in a Swiss format, and each match comprises four players per side. However, unlike its counterpart, this event takes place every four years instead of every two. In terms of the number of players participating, it is by far the largest competition in international chess for the visually impaired.

The first official Blind Chess Olympiad took place in Meschede, Germany, in 1961, with eight teams competing in a round-robin format to play 122 games. The winner was Yugoslavia, a former European country that was later divided into Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo (recognized by only some countries), Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, and Slovenia. See? Reading my blogs can also help increase your general knowledge!

Anyway, by the third edition of the tournament in 1968, held in Weymouth, England, there were already 20 teams competing. By the time of the 13th Blind Chess Olympiad in Heraklion, Greece, in 2008, 34 teams were participating, making it the most significant event in the sport's international field to date.

In total, there have been sixteen editions of this tournament so far. Russia (including the Soviet Union) has won the vast majority of them, with 13 titles in their trophy cabinet. The other winners were Yugoslavia, which won the first two editions in 1961 and 1964, and Poland, which ended Russia's dominance by achieving a surprising victory in 2004.

To date, these are the nations that continue to dominate the international scene, with Russia still being the dominant power, closely followed by Poland and Serbia. Germany, Romania, Ukraine, and Spain have also performed well in recent years, so hopefully, more and more countries will develop a stronger blind chess culture, making the competition even more interesting, balanced, and diverse in the future! The next Olympiad will take place in Vrnjačka Banja, Serbia, from 16 to 26 June 2025.

The link to the Chess Results page for the last edition is below:

16th IBCA Chess Olympiad for the Blind and Visually Impaired 2021

  ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

3. Top Players

Okay, Vanessa, so far, so good. We already know which countries are the strongest, but you haven't told us anything about the players yet. Aren’t they important too?

Don’t worry - you've just arrived in the right place! We will now talk more about some of the world's top blind chess players, their achievements, and their life stories. Unfortunately, information about them is hard to find. However, one of the reasons I decided to write this blog was exactly to increase their visibility. So, here is my small contribution.

Firstly, I have included the link to the results of the last Blind Chess World Championship below. This took place in Rhodes, Greece, in October 2023.

IBCA World Individual Chess Championship 2023

  ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

Marcin Tazbir

As you can see, the current World Champion is Marcin Tazbir, from Poland, the only GM in blind chess! Despite being visually impaired, he has built a successful career in standard chess, too. Let's find out more about him:

Born on 22 August 1988, Tazbir is a three-time winner of the Polish Junior Chess Championship: U10 in 1998, U16 in 2004, and U18 in 2006. He has also represented Poland several times in the World and European Youth Chess Championships. His current FIDE ELO is 2498, but he reached his peak rating of 2561 in June 2013, the same year he received his Grandmaster title.

In addition to the aforementioned IBCA World Championship, he won the IBCA European Title in 2015.

  ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

Predrag Nikač

Another great player worth mentioning is IM Predrag Nikač, the runner-up, from Montenegro. He was born on 27 April 1968 and has been an International Master since 2011. Besides winning the silver medal in 2021, he also won the Blind World Chess Championship in Cagliari, Italy, in 2019.

His current FIDE rating is 2234; his peak, reached in 2009, was 2395.

  ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

Would you like to see them both in action? Below is a game played between these two giants in the fourth round of the last World Championship. After a hard-fought battle in the Sicilian Defense, Tazbir emerged victorious, paving the way for the title!

  ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

4. Top Women Players

And what about the women? Do we have any strong names to present? Of course we do! Not only does the IBCA have its World Open Championship, but it also organizes the IBCA World Women's Chess Championship. Click on the link to view the results of the most recent tournament, which took place in Bangalore, India, in October 2024.

The final rankings reveal an amazing performance, as the champion scored 9/9 in this event! So, I think it's only fair to find out a little more about her. Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to introduce:

  ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

Lubov Zsiltzova-Lisenko

Lubov Zsiltzova-Lisenko, born on 20 October 1956, is a Ukrainian chess player who has held the title of Woman International Master (WIM) since 1996. She won the Ukrainian Women's Chess Championship in 1978 and won individual gold medals at the Women's Chess Olympiad in both 1994 and 2006.

She is one of the world's leading female blind chess players, having won the IBCA World Women's Chess Championship five times and participated many times in the Women's Chess Olympiad, representing the IBCA team. (Yes, the IBCA usually selects a squad to play in the regular Chess Olympiad. Pretty cool, right?)

Zsiltzova-Lisenko has also played in the IBCA World Open Chess Championships, winning the bronze medal in 2006, and the IBCA European Open Chess Championships, where she won silver in 1995 and bronze in 1999.

Her performances for Ukraine in the Blind Chess Olympiads have also been impressive! She has participated six times, winning three silver and three bronze medals with her team, as well as one gold, one silver, and one bronze medal for her individual performances. Lubov's current ELO rating is 2121, having peaked at 2296 in 2009.

  ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

Emilia Egeman

The runner-up was 19-year-old Emilia Egeman from Poland, a young player with a very promising future, as she is currently at her peak rating of 1926! Unfortunately, not much information about this girl is available yet, but I hope this will change in the coming years. I'll certainly keep an eye on her!

  ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

Check out their game in round 4 of the event:

  ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

5. Top Junior Players

To conclude this article, let's look more closely at junior events and players! Generally, a junior is defined as someone under 18 years of age. Once again, here is the link to the results of the last World Championship in this category, held on the same dates and at the same venue as the women’s tournament.

12th IBCA World Junior Chess Championship for the Blind and Visually Challenged 2024 – 25

Before I discuss the players I want to focus on, I would like to make an important remark: seven out of the twelve participants were from India. Although they have not yet achieved top performances, it is likely that the future is bright for the country here, too. I would not be at all surprised if they dominated in a few years. Read more about Darpan Inani.

Returning to the top players, the world champion is:

  ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

Julia Salamon

That's right! The current Braille Chess Junior Champion in the Open Section is a girl! I couldn't find this specific information, but she may well be the only female world champion in any category of the open section. If anyone knows of another, please let me know in the comments.

Julia Salamon was born in Poland in 2008 and currently has a FIDE rating of 1911. However, her peak rating of 2037 was reached in October last year, shortly after she was crowned world champion following a brilliant performance in the event, in which she won seven out of nine games and finished unbeaten.

  ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

Michal Racis

The runner-up was Michal Racis, who is also from Poland. Born in 2007, he currently has a FIDE rating of 2106, which is very close to his peak rating of 2141, reached in October last year. Do you think it is a coincidence that Poland took the top two spots? Or do they have a strong tradition?

  ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

Adam Czajkowski

The second answer is correct! Although he is no longer a junior, as he was born in 1998, I felt the need to mention Adam Czajkowski. He is another great Polish player who won the world championship in 2018 and may have inspired the two people we mentioned above.

With an ELO rating of 2232, he was the strongest junior champion ever. Here is the link to the interview he gave to ChessBase India shortly after winning the title.

  ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

And below is the game that won Julia the world trophy:

  ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

Conclusion

I hope you enjoyed learning more about this wonderful world! Personally, I loved researching and discovering so many amazing players and their inspiring achievements. Hopefully, you finished this reading with the same feeling.

As I had already mentioned in my text, Moments When Chess Changed My Life, I played a few times against a blind man who used to go to the same chess club as I did in Wolfsburg, Germany. However, in his case, since the place did not have the proper board or equipment, he simply told us the moves (with a very strong accent ) and the opponent did it for him, i.e., he just played blindfolded.

Of course, this text is not a glorification of being or becoming blind, but if, like me, you think it is important to understand more about this world and feel at least a little bit of the same struggles they do, a good suggestion would be to practice your blindfolded chess skills more. And how to do that?

Below, I have included links to some other blogs that also cover this topic in more detail, so that you may learn ways to practice it and begin to understand how difficult, but not at all impossible, it is. I wish you good luck!

• Learn to play blindfold chess and Aprende a jugar a la ciega (Spanish version) by @JugadaBrillante

• How to Build Your Blindfold Skills by @Chesser1492

Thanks a lot for reading, and we will meet again on May 15th! Take care!