From the 4th until 6th of April there was the 40th edition of the IBIS chess tournament in the Dutch town of Haaksbergen (close to Enschede) This is a special tournament for blind, partly sighted and sighted people from different countries. This time from Netherlands, Germany, Belgium and the UK. The tournament is special because the chess players and guides sleep and eat at host families in Haaksbergen.

At the opening ceremony Stephen Hilton, on behalf of the FIDE comity for disabled chess, presented the organisation of IBIS with a shield to thank them for their 40 year of excellent work. And to thank them for helping promoting chess for people that are visual disabled.

There where more then 60 participants this year. Play was in groups of 4. Groups where not only put together on playing strenth but the organisation looked also at country players came from and their disability. This to ensure there is a nice mix of people on each table. Time controls where 90 min. for each player for each game. The tournament (table 1) was won by Stephen Hilton with 2.5 out of 3 Saturday evening there was a festive evening with music and food to celebrate the 40th edition of this tournament.
More information (in Dutch, German and English) about this tournament can by found here at the IBIS tournament website
(Sergio Harnandan)