All India Chess Federation for the Blind


The All India Chess Federation for the Blind is the governing body for the game of Chess among visually impaired in India. It was formed in 1997 with a view to promoting the game of chess among the visually impaired all over the country. It is registered under Society Registration Act, 1860; Public Trust Act, 1951 and Income Tax Act, 1961 – Section 12A.

Aims and objectives

Although the main objective of the organisation is to promote the game among the visually impaired all over India, the organisation has a set of aims and objectives such as
The AICFB is affiliated to the International Braille Chess Association in 1998 and All India Chess Federation. Through this affiliation the AICFB has been able to integrate India with the rest of the blind chess-playing world.

Affiliated states

The AICFB has a number of affiliated state bodies and more than 2500 active chess players under it all over India.
Till now the AICFB has organised 19 Zonal levels chess tournaments, 9 National tournaments & sent Indian teams 12 times to participate in the World Chess Championship. It has also organised the first ever Asian Chess Championship in December 2003, which was the first International chess tournament in India and the 11th Individual World Chess Championship for the Blind 2006 which was held outside Europe, in India for the very first time. Sixteen Indian teams have participated in various world events in the last ten years and the last one even returned with a gold medal from the Chess Olympiad for the Blind held at Crete in October 2009. The was also hosted in India by AICFB in August 2012.

Professional training program

According to Charudutta, the founder of the AICFB, the organisation has identified 38 schools in 16 states to initiate a programme for professional training.