Defending champ Gangolli wins national chess tourney for blind

Mumbai, Feb 11 (PTI) Defending champion Karnataka's Kishan Gangolli won the 13th edition of the National 'A' Chess Championship organised by All India Chess Federation for the Blind (AICFB) here today.

At the end of the 13th round today Asian Championship winner, Gangolli became the champion for the fifth consecutive time with 10.5 points, a media release said.

While Gujarat's Ashvin Makwana stood second with 9.5 points, Soundarya Kumar Pradhan of Orissa with 9 points came third.

Aryan Joshi of Maharashtra (Rating 1814) with 8.5 points stood fourth and the fifth place was secured by Subhendu Kumar Patra with 7.5 points.

In the 13th round, Kishan played against Prachurya Kumar Pradhan from Orissa and was very well determined to win the championship on the last day. However, Prachurya Kumar Pradhan gave a tough fight and both settled for a draw.

The top five players of the National A Chess Championship will form the Indian team for the forthcoming 'World Team Championship' for the blind to be held in Bulgaria in July 2018, the release added.

Earlier in the day, ace chess player Viswanathan Anand, met the 14 visually challenged chess players who are competing at the National 'A' Chess Championship for the visually challenged here.

Anand spoke to them about their games and also shared interesting insights on making the game more powerful to defeat the opponent.

"I have huge respect for the visually challenged chess players as they have an excellent memory and visual imagery of the game to compete with a sighted player. I hope that blind chess will get the recognition it deserves in India at the earliest," Anand said