Mark Indermaur adult chess, chess accessibility, Chess clubs, chess supplies, library chess, senior chess

Empowering Visually Impaired Players Through Chess: Discover Specialized Chess Sets and Resources

“It was magical!”

That’s how the teacher described the day her visually impaired student first played with the special chess set we provided. “She was so excited to play, and the kids loved playing with her.”

This teacher had started a chess club at Oberlin Magnet Middle School using one of our grants. Since her school is one of five in the Wake County Public School System which provides specialized programs and services for visually impaired students, she asked how she could help these students join her club.

We purchased a special wooden chess set from Chess House which has several features for blind or visually impaired players. The different color squares are raised or recessed so they can be identified by touch. All the pieces have pegs on the bottom to fit in the holes in each square; this keeps pieces steady and in the center of their square. The black pieces have pegs on the top to differentiate them from the white pieces.

Specialized sets like this enable visually impaired players to play with each other and with sighted players. Several rules have accommodations for visually impaired players. For example, each player must announce their move and have it repeated back to them by their opponent. The touch move rule is adjusted to allow visually impaired players to touch any of the pieces or squares to understand the current position. Once they lift a piece out of its hole, the piece is considered “touched,” and they must move it (if they legally can).

The Braille Chess Association of the UK has a wonderful “how we play” explanation and accompanying video showing how visually impaired people play chess.

Playing chess has additional benefits for those with disabilities. “When I play chess, it’s as close as I’ve ever come to a sense of equality,” Jessica Lauser told CNN in “This woman is a chess champion. And she’s blind.” “When you start the game, no matter who you are, no matter what your physical condition is or where you come from or whether you have money, both sides start with the same thing.”

If your visually impaired children would also like to play chess online, you can use these instructions from the US Blind Chess Association to play on lichess.org with a screen reader. The International Braille Chess Association organizes regular online tournaments on lichess.org for visually impaired players. Both of these organizations provide lists of resources, and the USBCA also offers more than twenty braille chess books.

If you would like to organize a tournament which will include visually impaired players, US Chess maintains an excellent set of Guidelines for Accessible Chess Events. Rule 35F in the The US Chess Rule Book: the Official Rules of Chess describes the specific rules for visually impaired players, and “Opponents with disabilities need special care, so there are special rules to make it fair” answers common questions about these rules.

Ascribing to the US Chess core values,
we believe everyone has a seat at the chess table.

Mark Indermaur Chess clubs, chess supplies

Replacing broken chess pieces

If your chess club plays in a room like a school cafeteria that has a hard floor, then, over time, you may have several broken pieces to replace. You could always buy an entire new set of pieces from a chess supplier like WholesaleChess.com or  US Chess Federation Sales, but kings and rooks seem to be more fragile than other pieces, so you probably need to replace more of them.

I recommend ChessHouse.com for replacement pieces, because they sell individual solid plastic pieces at reasonable prices and with good service. They give you a bulk discount if you buy 100 of any combination of pieces, have coupons that give you an additional $5 off orders of $25 or more, and offer free shipping if your order is large enough.

For more information, please see “Buying chess sets and equipment.”

Please leave a comment if you have found other good suppliers of replacement pieces.

Mark Indermaur chess supplies

Buying chess sets and equipment

Parents and teachers starting new clubs often ask me where to buy chess sets and equipment. There are many good chess suppliers online.

I buy chess sets, demo boards, chess books, score books, and key chain pieces (as incentives) from WholesaleChess.com. They provide good service, volume discounts, and free shipping if your order is large enough.

If you would like to see an item before buying it, large tournaments like the NC K-12 Chess Championship and the NC Open have chess stores onsite.

If your chess club has been using the same pieces for several years, you may have some broken kings or rooks (as they seem to break more easily than other pieces). You could buy a new set of pieces from any chess supplier. I also found that ChessHouse.com sells individual pieces at reasonable prices and with good service.They give you a discount if you buy 10, 50, or 100 pieces.

After you have bought enough chess sets for your club, you may want to buy some digital chess clocks to help students prepare for tournaments. I have bought DGT North American clocks from Amazon.

I have also bought a few items from US Chess Federation Sales. A friend of mine buys his club’s supplies from American Chess Equipment. If you are looking for a special chess set, House of Staunton has an excellent selection of beautiful sets.

What other suppliers do you recommend?