A rare and unique ‘Blind Chess Challenge Match’ was held on Saturday evening at the Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) Sricity in Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh.
The single game event was fought between two of the most illustrious Women Grandmasters of the Country, Nisha Mohota of West Bengal and Padmini Rout of Odisha for about an hour. The event was broadcasted live at the Website of the Institution with live commentary by International Master Venkatachalam Saravanan.
Kumar Ramachandran, member Board of Governing, IIIT introduced the players. P Ramachandra Reddy, Head Academic affairs welcomed the Guests. Both players were felicitated by the Under graduate students of the Institute with shawl and Memento at the end of Match.
The Match was the first of its kind ever in India and created a lot of enthusiasm and interest. Both the players were blindfolded during the entire game, and spelt out the moves at a moderator, who executed them on a giant chess board, which could be seen by audience present during the event. It was a ‘Rapid Chess’ event, with both the players getting 25 minutes each to play the entire game, with 10 seconds added to their remaining time after each move.
It was a test of not only chess skills and tactical prowess of the players, but also a stretch on their visualization skills. Though Chess players are used to analysing variations and games without a chess board present in front of them, to cross swords in a blindfold format made it interesting. The competitive element made the visualization process all more sharpened and tense at the same time.
Followed by the Blind Chess game, the Women Grandmasters also played a ‘Simultaenous Display’ with 13 players belonging to the Institute as well as Sricity concurrently,
Both Mohota and Rout are chess professionals holding the Woman Grandmaster Title, and are the top two finishers of the previous National Premier Women championship. (INN)