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Sports in Gelsenkirchen
When Playing Chess Blind People Don't Have Any Problems.
Worldcup: Moldavia and Peru are missing.
High motivation on high level.
- · Maritim Hotel, Saturday, 14 h. There is suspense in
- · the tournament room. Chess players of the eleven
- · best teams of the blind and visually impaired and
- · of the terrestrial team from India take their seats in
- · front of the chess boards.
- · By Björn Steinrötter
- · There is a lot of noise, last agreements are made, chairs are moved about and the wooden pieces are erected. Suddenly there is silence. The 4 IV. Worldcup has started.
- In contrast to a normal game of chess every player uses his chess board and announces the following move. At the end of the maximum playing time (6 hours) the level of adrenaline is at its peak. Everybody is taking up the challenge.
- Beside the worldcup the German Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired organises an International Jubilee tournament for individuals on behalf of its 50th anniversary. “The motivation of the chess players
- is high and so is the level of playing”, Ludwig Beutelhoff, chairman of the German Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired, stresses.
- Even sighted people do not see everything.
- A lot of blind and visually impaired as Beutelhoff himself play sighed thinking acrobats and not without little success. “In my club I am the only blind player. Sometimes, however, some sighted players think they hadn't seen some of my moves“, Beutelhoff grins. There isn't any other kind of sports in which the blind can compete so well as with chess. A proof that sighted and blind people from all over the world are linked by the game of the 64 squares is that the international competitors come from all over the world. Due to financial difficulties (Peru) or visa problems (Moldavia) not every player, who had been invited was able to come. “Both tournaments are organised by ourselves. We are financially supported by some sponsoring companies”, the chairman explains. To be able to publish the results of the tournament daily, a braille printer has been borrowed by the DBSB. Secretary Peter Staubach is in charge of it. “The computer functions just as a normal one, only the monitor has been switched off, I don't need it,” Staubach mentions with a smile.
- It is not only the representatives of the chess association but also many players who are technically skilled. A German player whispers his moves into a tape. Apart from the Olympic Games this chess tournament for the blind and visually impaired in Gelsenkirchen is the largest in the world. Till August 11, 2001 everybody is very welcome to watch the games free of charge in Maritim Hotel. About 100 chess players are participating.
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