9th World Team Chess Championship, 2022

9th IBCA World Team Chess Championship for the Blind and Visually Impaired 2022 held in Ohrid, Macedonia from 27th June to 07th July, 2022. The Championship took place in the Metropol Hotel, 4 stars, in Ohrid. The Championship was organized by the International Braille Chess Association (IBCA). The top 16 chess team countries have been selected to participate in this championship from 16th Chess Olympiad for the Blind and Visually Impaired in Rhodes, Greece from 16th to 26th October 2021. For this prestigious championship, Indian chess players were selected on the basis of their performance at 15th AICFB National Chess Championship for the blind, 2022 held at Pune, Maharashtra.

The Indian team comprised of Soundarya Kumar Pradhan, Kishan Gangolli, Marimuthu K, Swapnil Shah and Somendar. Dr. Charudatta Jadhav led the team as the coach and head of Indian delegation of the team.

For the first time in the history of IBCA, India stood 6th rank and bagged three medals in the event. On the 2nd board Soundarya Kumar Pradhan clinched the gold medal for his rating performance of 2033. He scored 7 out of 9 points.

Kishan Gangolli and Swapnil Shah secured silver medal for their solid performance on board 3rd and 5th respectively. They scored 6.5/9 and 4.5/7 points with a rating performance of 1986 and 1747.

Every player of the team gained rating points from the event. Finishing 6th in the event.

The performance of all the Indian players was brilliant in its own right which makes the country proud. This is the most important achievement for blind chess and for our country as the world recognized the ability of AICFB to promote the game of chess amongst the visually Impaired and Blind.  

They played bravely putting up fights against some of the best players. This shows that blind chess in India has great potential. In India we have blind players who are devoting almost all of their time to chess.