Story of a Visually Impaired Chess Player
The famous saying of the great Albert Einstein: “In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity”, indeed, was the saying that inspired me to focus on my abilities, not on my disability. Chess is one of the best gifts God gave me. When I had normal vision, I didn’t have time to play or learn Chess because I concentrated more on my studies. However, after I became visually impaired due to an eye disease called “Retinitis Pigmentosa”, I got to play and learn Chess. When I joined a rehabilitation program for the visually impaired, I met Chess players who were blind or partially sighted. From them, I learned how to play Chess with an adaptive Chess board. As soon as I learned the game, I got an opportunity to play in the national visually impaired Chess championship. At that time, was my chess knowledge sufficient to compete in a national event immediately after completing an introductory course? But I managed to become runner-up in this tournament. That was the first time I participa...