Please Help! Blind National Premier in trouble

Kishan Gangolli was beaming with pride at the conclusion of the Asian Blind Championships held in April 2017 in Bangalore, India. The 25-year-old visually challenged player had made his country proud by winning the gold medal. Indians made a clean sweep at that championship with Ashvin Makvana winning the silver and Soundarya Pradhan getting the bronze! Later that year team India went to the Blind Olympiad in Macedonia. Our boys started as the 19th seed, fought valiantly and finished seventh! Kishan was a rock on board three as he scored 6.5/9 and won the individual bronze medal. 

You could say that the Indian blind chess was on the rise. These youngsters needed more motivation and exposure to ensure that their talent comes out to the world at large. They needed more backing, they needed more support. Just when you think that things should go well for them and funds should flow in, you witness an unbelievable scene. The National Premier Blind Championships about to begin in a day from now - 3rd of February 2018, has no sponsors. 

List of participants for the National Premier Blind 2018:

The National Premier Blind Championships 2018 are to be held from the 3rd to the 11th of February 2018 at the Andheri Sports Complex in Mumbai. 14 of the best blind players of India will fight it out to decide who becomes the national champion. If you were to think about it, chess is the only sport where blind players can compete on an equal footing with sighted players. There is just one Elo rating and in order to become an IM/GM you need to reach 2400/2500 rating with three norms just like a sighted player. Chess for blind players is an extremely important discipline that needs to be supported and boosted in our country. But instead of getting additional backing, the most important event for the blind - National Premier has currently no sponsors.

Statement by President of AICFB Charudatta Jadhav:

"We are struggling this time to get sufficient support to conduct the National Premier for the blind which is very sad. Only HPCL has agreed to support up to Rs. 50,000 (verbal confirmation). Other than this, we don’t have any support for this prestigious championship as all the major sponsors have not come forward. In spite of doing extremely well at the international level and also playing a leading role at the world level to scale blind chess, at home, blind chess is struggling to get its due recognition. This has started impacting the motivation levels of the players which is not a good sign.

In spite of this, we are bravely going ahead with the organization of the National Premier 2018. I humbly request the help of the chess community in getting minimum support to conduct this National Championship. The following are our expenses:

Expenses for the event:

Lodging for the players (1 player + 1 accompanying person): Rs. 2,05,000

Boarding: Rs. 1,35,000

Tables, chair, sound system, stage etc: Rs. 70,000

Prizes and trophies: Rs. 1,25,000

Arbiter, live games (board rent): Rs. 27,000

Total: Rs. 5,62,000

Less: Rs. 50,000 (HPCL sponsorship)

Money required: Rs. 5,12,000

It's your chance to help:

Click on the button below and make a contribution. It could be any amount. You contribute as per your ability. Your small gesture will ensure that the biggest national blind chess event takes place and the players get their due:

International readers can contribute via Paypal to chessbaseindia@gmail.com

All the money collected will be transferred to AICFB.

You can also contribute directly to the bank of AICFB. Here are the bank details:

All India Chess Federation For The Blind

Indian Bank

SB a/c: 415222082

IFSC: IDIB000B027

Address:  Ground floor, United India Building, Sir P. M. Road, Fort Branch, Mumbai – 400001.

If you do make a direct payment to the above-mentioned bank please send a mail to office@aicfb.in with a copy (cc) to chessbaseindia@gmail.com with the amount of contribution, your name, address and Permanent Account Number (PAN). These details are mandatory for tax purpose.

Support by ChessBase India:

IM Sagar Shah (that's me) and Amruta Mokal will be present at the event for the entire duration bringing you detailed coverage of the tournament on ChessBase India website, Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and Instagram. In our personal capacity, Amruta and I will be contributing Rs.10,000 to help in the organization of the event.

If you contribute Rs.1,00,000 or more, your logo/name will be mentioned in every article and video published on ChessBase India. With thousands of readers that ChessBase India possesses, it will be great mileage for your company/brand. You would not only be contributing to a noble cause but also gain something in return.

Total collection:

ChessBase India with AICFB thanks each and every contributor on this list. The list will be updated as soon as we new contributors.