“Blindfold chess” is a common practice among chess players. A person plays without seeing the board and announces their moves verbally. For visually impaired people it’s a given fact rather than an additional challenge. The chess games for visually impaired happen like that, although the pieces on board can be touched in the process.
As the sportspeople cannot see the board they have to keep the game in mind all the time. Raising the player’s skill requires developing memory and spatial thinking. It is achieved through constant training and solving chess problems.
The chess community is in constant communication: they spend their time together, play online and help each other to get to the competitions.
Chess for the visually impaired mostly exists because of certain enthusiasts. The government provided grants cannot fully cover neither the organization of tournaments nor the team management.
Q&A with Anastasiya Pentyukhina
Question: What Does Photography Mean to You?
Answer: For me, photography is a part of life. On the camera of my phone, I fix my view of the world at the moment I am in. I use my camera to shoot and tell stories.
How did you get interested in photography?
I first got into photography in 2013, shooting with my phone. In 2015, I got my first digital camera and mostly did street photography with it. I came to documentary photography in 2019, when I realized that stories told through photographs are more interesting for me than just beautiful individual pictures.
What do you think makes photography necessary?
With the help of photography, I can not only tell, but also show some kind of story. Photography is an assistant in the disclosure of history. For example, as it was with John Steinbeck and Robert Capa when they talked about the post-war USSR in the book “Russian Journal”.
This is the importance of photography for me.
How do the events unfolding around you affect your photographic projects?
All events in the world affect all of us. It’s important for me to do something within my capabilities. My project was created in order to tell about the existence of blind chess. Sharing the stories of my heroes is what’s really important for me.
