Blind and Visually Impaired Community
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Would a chess set for the blind be a good present? (self.Blind)
submitted by guitararvin
I need to get a present for a blind person I do not know much about. I play chess myself and I found a chess set for the blind that uses pegs. In chess there is such a thing as blindfold play where the moves are communicated verbally, but the player is not allowed to ask about the board. With a blind chess set, a player could feel which pieces are on which squares. Would this be a good present?
bright_side1977 5 points 6y ago
My son is visually impaired and LOVES chess. He can use regular chess sets because all of the pieces feel different. A lot of people compare it to blindfolded chess but wearing a blindfold and being blind are very different. Maybe that's just his opinion though.
fastfinge 2 points 6y ago
How does he find the squares? I've tried to use regular chess sets myself, but can't at all. Just touching one of the pieces causes it to slide out of the square. Plus, when I want to make a move, it's hard to tell exactly how far to move forward to move one square, as the board is generally perfectly flat. So personally, I need a specialty set that uses pegs, even though the pieces on regular sets feel different.
bright_side1977 1 points 6y ago
He always uses the same board so he knows the distance of the squares. He also has some vision so if he leans close to the board he can see the squares.
fastfinge 3 points 6y ago
That'd do the trick. He's probably using his vision more than touching the pieces, as well. Because those things slide super easy!
fastfinge 2 points 6y ago
One of the lovely things about chess is that it's an easy game to play online. I have a board myself, and I used to play games via email. One move per day. Once you know how to note your moves, you can really play chess anywhere you can exchange messages with another person. I just left the board set up on my desk with the current state of play, so whenever I had a minute I could feel it and think about my move. As a teenager, it taught me the importance of taking time with decisions, and not just doing the first thing that crosses your mind. This was before widely available chess programs, though. I suspect online play would be much less fun today; I'd always wonder if the other person was cheating.
HailDaHailu 2 points 6y ago
Got a friend who loves playing chess, particularly on the computer... he tried to teach me the move notation and its actually quite hard at the start...And then you'd have a log of all the moves you'd done to check where other things are if you're fully blind... though I guess it's easy once you get the hang of it, and then you don't need the visual board at all (or not as much)... Well, that's what he said anyway.
fastfinge 2 points 6y ago
I still like having the ability to feel the board, to get a sense of the location of the different pieces. I'm sure if I were a chess expert, I wouldn't need it. But I'm not. :-)
KillerLag 2 points 6y ago
The person you are getting this gift for, do they like chess or board games? If they do, that is a great gift. If they don't but are willing to learn, also good. But if they have no interest at all, there may be other things that are better.
garythevisionary 2 points 6y ago
I agree with @bright_side1977. You can feel all of the pieces, and although it remains challenging, I think it's a worthwhile present.
affirmedatheist 2 points 6y ago
It'd be pretty trivial to make it fully accessible though. All you'd need would be ridges around the edges of each square on the board. The pieces are all pretty distinctive in design, so it'd be possible to teach how each piece moves, since they feel distinct.
EndlessReverberation 1 points 6y ago
Yes it's a good gift. I have an accessible chess board that was given to me as a gift, and I love it.
Just a note to people talking about standard chess sets. Not only is the flat, non tactile board a problem, the pieces are also an issue; yes a pond feels different from a knight, but a white pond does not feel different from it's black counterpart. As a blind person you can't tell your pieces apart from your opponent's pieces. An accessible set has a tactile board and tactile markers that distinguish the white pieces from the black pieces.
If the person you are getting this gift for is not into chess there are many other accessible game options. I'm a big Texas Holdem Poker player. There are braille playing cards you can buy and use for countless card games, plus there are tactile poker chips.
Just a note to people talking about standard chess sets. Not only is the flat, non tactile board a problem, the pieces are also an issue; yes a pond feels different from a knight, but a white pond does not feel different from it's black counterpart. As a blind person you can't tell your pieces apart from your opponent's pieces. An accessible set has a tactile board and tactile markers that distinguish the white pieces from the black pieces.
If the person you are getting this gift for is not into chess there are many other accessible game options. I'm a big Texas Holdem Poker player. There are braille playing cards you can buy and use for countless card games, plus there are tactile poker chips.
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