British filmmaker zooms camera on blind Indian chess players

New Delhi, Aug 19: The world of visually challenged but skilled and calculative chess players in India enraptured Britain-based sociologist and filmmaker Ian McDonald to such an extent that he captured their lesser known lives in his documentary "Algorithms", releasing across India on Friday. "Blindless is not so much a disability, just an alternative way of existence. It is a more humane world," McDonald told IANS in a telephone interview from Chennai, where a special screening of the film was held with an audio-described theatrical preview. McDonald, who was himself a chess player, said the idea for the film was born out of "sheer curiosity". "I came across a newspaper report, which talked about blind children playing chess. I carried the newspaper report for two years and we did more research, and we contacted Charudatta Jadhav, the general secretary of the All India Chess Federation for the Blind. "He invited us to the national blind chess championship in Mumbai in January 2009 where I saw hundreds of blind and visually impaired chess players playing. That's why I thought to make a film on this subject," he said. The film, whose shooting began in 2009, culminated over a period of three years, said McDonald.