4th FIDE World Chess Championships for People with Disabilities
Round 2: 1st World Chess Championship for Disabled
- Written by Philipp Roeder, Photos: Karsten Wieland
Whereas there were no big surprises during the first round, the second round was more surprising. The German Marco Sponheim (IPCA - International Physically-Disabled Chess Association) won against Dimitrij Scerbin (International Master) from Russia. In this tournament there is a trend to battle it out instead of fast remis. During this tournament the Sofia rule is applied, which means that there is no remis allowed until the 30th move - except the arbiter comes to another decision.
The duel of the Russian chessplayers at table 1 won Andrei Obodschuk (International Master) as expected against Viktor Strekalovski.
Mohammadreza Ghadimi, who plays for the Chess Committee of the Deaf Hamburg, Germany, won the first and second round and had therefore a brilliant start of the tournament. Obviously, he is very happy about his success and optimistic regarding the third round.
Stanislav Babarykin, visually handicapped Fide Master from Russia, won at table 7 against the deaf Jerzy Strzelecki from Poland. At this table, where there was a very special combination, even two volunteers assisted: Ilona Olligs and her son Antonius Olligs.
Wolfgang Krabbe (in the photo: right) and Stefan Krause (in the photo: left) played remis. Both are playing for the Chess Committee of the Deaf Dresden, Germany (ICCD International Chess Committee of the Deaf Germany).
There was a close fight in one of the longest matches at table 19: the deaf Victor Varezhkin (Elo: 2182) from Russia won against Dawid Falkowski (Elo: 2013) from Poland. Due to the very exciting final stage of this game, there were a lot of spectators finally. Another long match took place at table 3: Alexander Balberov (Russia) against Ruben Bernardi (Italy). After five hours, both players accepted remis.
The chessboards for the blind and visually handicapped players are very interesting for outsiders. The Polish International Master Piotr Dukaczweski, one of the favorites, is using such a special chessboard. Volunteers (here: Alexander Hilgenberg) assist and write down moves. Usually, the players announce the moves to confirm it. Due to their handicaps some of the participants have their own special table.
Just before every round, the daily announcements will be done in four languages: next to German, English, Russian even in sign language. The sign language interpreters are from the general office of sign language interpreters in Zwickau/Saxony. Consequently, deaf players are included - one can say inclusion is practiced.
The physically-disabled Snehit Saraf had the longest journey to Dresden - he came with his family from India just to participate in this tournament.
Such an event always needs a lot of helping hands in the background. There are about 30 Volunteers who support the tournament. The two sisters Valenta Krämer (in the photo: left) and Livia Krämer (in the photo: right) are instructed by the international arbiter Martin Sebastian.
Spectators observed the exciting developement of the tournament. The top pairings of every round are shown on monitors and broadcasted live in the internet on the website: www.worldchess-disabled.com. Everybody who is interested is always welcome.
