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Overlooked & Underrated Docs & Features
(click on broll or dschwartz for all his posts)
Algorithms: The Blind Chess Players of India Directed and shot by Ian McDonald, “Algorithms” introduces us to the world of blind chess players – more specifically to those from India.
The film follows three young players – Darpan Inani, SaiKrishna S.T. and Anant Kumar Nayak – as they prepare for and compete in the World Junior Blind Chess Championship in 2011. Their coach is Charudatta Jadhav.
One unresolved issue that emerges in the film is the definition of ‘blind.’ There’s a functional distinction between those with partial sight, and those with none. They play on different boards. Some, if not most, partially sighted can see the board and move the pieces with their vision. Fully blind players use their hands on special boards with holes in each square to hold the pieces. This places them at a disadvantage since the moving process takes additional time.
Coach Jadhav is a strong character with a dramatic story who gives his all in mentoring his young players.
McDonald’s cinematography is superb. He chose to present his film in black and white. Perhaps he uses that format as an analog. Just as the sight-denied players are missing a fundamental dimension of human perception, sight, so we are deprived of the visual dimension of color.
“Algorithms” is a powerful, engaging film that left me wondering: Will there come a point when chess competitions integrate the blind with the fully-sighted?