They have never seen pawns, bishops, kings or queens on a chessboard but they know exactly the right move.

The unique shape and carvings of the chess pieces help them distinguish the king from his queen or the rook from the knight.

On Saturday, several visually impaired chess players took part in a tournament at the Kolkata Centre for Creativity at Anandapur. They were joined by many who are unable to hear.

The games pitted a visually impaired player against another with visual impairment. Similarly, those with hearing disabilities played against each other.

Sunetra Maji, 6, visually impaired since birth, was among the youngest participants. The girl from Howrah’s Amta did not move her head away from the chessboard for a moment till the game finished. “We have a Braille board at home. She enjoys playing chess,” said Moumita Maji, Sunetra’s mother.

Moumita is mostly Sunetra’s opponent in the games played at home. “When we found that she enjoys chess, we encouraged her. This is a mental game. It helps her concentrate,” she said.

Alok Kumar Das, 28, a visually impaired chess player from Naida, said he knew the shape of each piece. “I can tell you the name of the piece if I touch it. This is how I make a move,” he said.

Besides distinguishing the chess pieces from their shapes, the players also look for small dots on the top of the black pieces to differentiate them from the white ones.

“It is important to know which colour they are playing with also because players change sides with each round,” said Niloy Chakraborty, coach of the Bengal chess team for the deaf, who has tutored many players who participated in Saturday’s tournament.

Besides adult players, students from Asansol Blind School, Behala Blind School, Lighthouse for the Blind, Calcutta Blind School, Nabadwip APC Blind School, Voice of World and Jadavpur University also took part in the tournament.

Over 70 people participated in the tournament organised by the Kolkata District Chess Association and Nadia District Chess Association

Paromita Ghosh, 31, who cannot hear since birth, has been playing for 15 years. “This is the love of my life. I won bronze in the national championship for deaf players eight years ago.”

Richa Agarwal, chairperson of Kolkata Centre for Creativity, they hoped “to instil a sense of community and camaraderie among the young players and raise awareness about the challenges faced by disabled individuals.”