Blind Chess Olympiad

The Blind Chess Olympiad is an international chess competition for the blind in which teams from all over the world compete against each other.[1] The event takes place every four years, and is sponsored by the International Braille Chess Association.[1] The Blind Chess Olympiad is the largest sporting event in the international field of chess for the visually impaired.[2]

History

The forerunner to the Blind Chess Olympiads was a blind chess tournament held in Rheinbreitbach, Germany in 1958. The winner of the event was Reginald Walter Bonham, who would found the International Braille Chess Association.[3] The first official Blind Chess Olympiad was held in 1961 in Meschede, Germany. Eight teams competed to play 122 games in round-robin format with Team Yugoslavia as the resulting winner.[1][4] For the third Blind Chess Olympiad in 1968, held in Weymouth, England, 20 teams competed. Russia won the event with Yugoslavia in second place. The Polish team arrived by train in the early hours of the morning bringing with them the body of their sighted translator who had died en route (Reference: Organizer, John Graham). By the 2008 13th Blind Chess Olympiad in Heraklion, Crete, 34 teams participated making the Blind Chess Olympiad the most significant sporting event in the international field of chess for the blind to date.[2][5][6]

Results

# Year City Winner
1 1961 Meschede, Germany  Yugoslavia
2 1964 Kühlungsborn, Germany  Yugoslavia
3 1968 Weymouth, United Kingdom  Soviet Union
4 1972 Pula, Croatia  Soviet Union
5 1976 Kuortane, Finland  Soviet Union
6 1980 Noordwijkerhout, Netherlands  Soviet Union
7 1985 Benidorm, Spain  Soviet Union
8 1988 Zalaegerszeg, Hungary  Soviet Union
9 1992 Majorca, Spain  Russia
10 1996 Laguna, Brazil  Russia
11 2000 Zakopane, Poland  Russia
12 2004 Tarragona, Spain  Poland
13 2008 Heraklion, Greece  Russia
14 2012 Chennai, India  Russia

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 Blind Chess Olympiads History Retrieved September 7, 2009
  2. 1 2 XIII Olympiad for Blind and Visually Impaired Chess Players Retrieved September 7, 2009
  3. ↑ Reginald Walter Bonham at ChessGames.com Retrieved September 7, 2009
  4. ↑ 1st Blind Chess Olympiad: Meschede 1961 Retrieved September 7, 2009
  5. ↑ 13th Blind Chess Olympiad: Heraklion 2008 Retrieved September 7, 2009
  6. ↑ 13th Blind Chess Olympiad at the Merseyside Chess Association Retrieved September 7, 2009
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