India on 100% at the 15th IBCA Olympiad

by Sagar Shah - 21/06/2017

15th Chess Olympiad for Blind and visually impaired chess players is being organised by International Braille Chess Association (IBCA) in Macedonia from 18 to 29 June 2017. 27 countries have participated in this event. India is the 19th seed but have started with a bang. In the first round we beat sixth seeds Germany with a score of 2.5-1.5 and in the second round we were able to blank Kosovo 4-0. With 4.0/4 we are right on the top board facing the top seeds Russia in the third round.

While all the focus has been on the World Team Championships 2017 going on in Russia right now, we mustn't forget about the 15th IBCA Olympiad 2017. National Sports Federation of the Blind of Macedonia (NSFSM) and the National Union of the Blind of Macedonia (NSSRM) are organizing the 15th IBCA Chess Olympiad for blind and visually impaired people from 18th to the 27th of June in Ohrid.

There are in all 27 teams at the event and India began as the 19th seed. Indian team is represented by the first five finishers at the National Premier Championship. The following are the team members:

On the top board is Shirish Patil (1706).

On board two we have Soundarya Kumar Pradhan (1741)

Board three is handled by the national champion Kishan Gangolli (1964)

Ashwin Makwana is on the fourth board (1810)

Aryan Joshi (1710) is fighting it out on the fifth board

Round 1:

India faced the sixth seed Germans in the first round. On top board Shirish Patil lost his game, but Soundarya Kumar Pradhan and Kishan Gangolli provided the wins for India. Ashwin Makvana held fort on the last board and we emerged victorious with 2.5-1.5.

Soundarya Kumar Pradhan before the start of his game. He beat Eichstaedt Mirko (2160) on the second board.

The German team was higher rated, but that didn't matter for our boys!

Round 2:

The Indian team in action in the second round against Kosovo

Kosovo with all unrated players wasn't particularly strong. So India as expected won with a score of 4-0.

A real challenge awaits for team India in the third round. We are playing against the top seeds Russia.

The Russian team is extremely strong and can give just about any team a run for their money

Rank after Round 2

Rk.	SNo	FED	Team	Team	Games	+	=	-	TB1	TB2	TB3
1	2		UKRAINE	UKR	2	2	0	0	4	7,0	7,5
2	1		RUSSIA	RUS	2	2	0	0	4	7,0	7,0
3	4		POLAND	POL	2	2	0	0	4	7,0	6,5
4	8		VENEZUELA	VEN	2	2	0	0	4	5,0	6,5
5	19		INDIA	IND	2	2	0	0	4	5,0	6,5
6	11		SLOVENIA	SLO	2	2	0	0	4	5,0	6,0
7	12		LITHUANIA	LTU	2	2	0	0	4	5,0	5,5
8	9		MACEDONIA	MKD	2	1	0	1	2	6,0	5,0
9	3		SERBIA	SRB	2	1	0	1	2	6,0	4,5
10	6		GERMANY	GER	2	1	0	1	2	6,0	4,0
11	7		MONTENEGRO	MNE	2	1	0	1	2	6,0	4,0
12	17		CROATIA	CRO	2	1	0	1	2	4,0	3,5
13	13		BULGARIA	BUL	2	1	0	1	2	2,0	4,5
14	24		AZERBAIJAN	AZE	2	1	0	1	2	2,0	4,0
15	5		SPAIN	ESP	2	1	0	1	2	2,0	3,5
16	22		TURKEY	TUR	2	1	0	1	2	1,0	3,5
17	25		SOUTH AFRICA	RSA	2	0	1	1	1	4,0	3,0
18	20		NETHERLANDS	NED	2	0	1	1	1	3,0	3,5
19	18		ITALY	ITA	2	0	1	1	1	2,0	3,0
20	14		SWEDEN	SWE	2	0	1	1	1	2,0	2,5
21	15		HUNGARY	HUN	2	0	1	1	1	0,0	2,0
22	21		DENMARK	DEN	2	0	1	1	1	0,0	2,0
23	27		KOSOVO*	KOS	2	0	1	1	1	0,0	0,0
24	26		GREECE	GRE	2	0	1	1	1	0,0	0,0
25	10		ROMANIA	ROU	2	0	0	2	0	3,0	2,0
26	23		MOLDOVA	MDA	2	0	0	2	0	2,0	2,0
27	16		UNITED KINGDOM	UK	2	0	0	2	0	2,0	2,0

Pairings for round three

The round begins at 3.00 p.m. local time in Macedonia, that is 6.30 p.m. in India. Through great difficulties and challenges they have made their way to the 15th IBCA Olympiad. Let's cheer for our boys out there. With our encouragement we, at ChessBase India, are sure that they will come back with a medal!

Previous reports on blind events on ChessBase India:

Manipal 01+02: National B for blind gets underway

Manipal 03+04: Top seeds have smooth sailing

Manipal 05-08: Kishan and Soundarya lead National B

Manipal 09: Soundarya wins National B title

Blind Chess in India

Kishan Gangolli scores a hat trick, wins National A

IBCA Asian visually challenged: Kishan Gangolli leads