A blind chess player from Ahmedabad, Rahul Vaghela has won the Gujarat University chess tournament, finishing ahead of more than 100 sighted competitors drawn from 50 colleges across the city.
His friend Dhruv Bhuva, who has partial vision, secured third place in the same tournament. Another visually impaired player, Rahul Sahani, finished eighth, placing three visually impaired players inside the tournament's top 10, reports TOI's Parth Shastri.
Rahul Vaghela Blind Chess Player
Vaghela is a third-year BA student at LD Arts College. He said his introduction to chess came at around the age of 10.
"I must have been about 10 years of age when I first got my hands on the chess pieces," he told the Times of India. "The strategy the game needs intrigued me, and what started as a hobby soon turned into a major part of my life and identity."
His path to the title has not been straightforward. Vaghela's parents make brooms for a living, and he has navigated financial hardship at home alongside his chess training.
Earlier this year, he secured the All-India 10th rank at a national-level blind chess tournament held in Bengaluru. That performance has positioned him for a possible opportunity to represent India at an international blind chess event scheduled in Greece later this year.
Blind vs Sighted Chess
On competing against sighted opponents, Vaghela said chess levels the field in a way few sports can.
"Chess is one of the few games that provides a level playing field to the blind against the sighted," he said. "It is a game of wits and mental strategy."
He added that he hoped the result would shift perceptions around what people with disabilities are capable of. "It feels great to have become the champion in a tournament where I was one of the only four players with blindness," he said.
In the tournament, visually impaired players used a specialised board alongside the conventional one. On the specialised board, the black squares are elevated slightly and the black pieces carry a raised dot that can be identified by touch, according to Paritosh Dave, the chess coach at the Blind People's Association in Ahmedabad, where both Vaghela and Bhuva train.
Dave said Gujarat has been producing strong blind chess talent in recent years, with training structures encouraging wider participation among visually impaired players.
Blind People's Association Ahmedabad Chess
Bhuva, a first-year BA student at HK Arts College, described his third-place finish as his first major breakthrough. He has been building his game through regular tournaments, coaching sessions, and guidance from senior players including Vaghela.
Vaghela, for his part, credited his friends as central to his preparation. "My friends study my opponents' gameplay and help me strategise," he said. "They also help me understand classic games and keep me abreast of the major tournaments' outcomes and tactics of some famous players. I warmly wish them on Friendship Day."
(With TOI inputs)
