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Viswanathan Anand takes on visually-impaired chess player in game
In a unique event on Sunday, five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand took on a visually-impaired former chess player in a blitz game.
In a unique event on Sunday, five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand took on a visually-impaired former chess player in a blitz game.
The occasion was to mark the inauguration of the first audio-described preview of the documentary, 'Algorithms in India', made by British filmmaker Ian McDonald.
Anand and wife Aruna arrived before the screening of the film, to be released across the country on August 21. It is based on the life and times of visually-impaired chess players like Charudatta Jadav, who took on Anand.
Anand played blind - he did not look at the Braille chess board on which Jadav played. After some 10 minutes, the latter resigned.
"Chess is the only sport in which a visually-impaired person can take on a person with full vision," said Anand after inaugurating the screening of the documentary that has won several global awards.
"I hold visually-impaired chess players in the highest regard as their memory and visual imagery of a chess position is very difficult for even chess players to completely master," he added.
McDonald, the director, travelled with players in India and abroad to document their lives and captured emotions in a compelling story.
"The response to the film all over the world has been amazing. This launch, with audio description for the benefit of the visually-impaired audience, is great because it is inclusive," said McDonald.
The documentary transports viewers into the unknown world of visually-impaired chess players and narrates an inspirational story of three players and their dream of becoming champions. It features Jadav, a champion in blind chess.
Made over three years, the film depicts a journey that challenges the notion of what it means to "see".
