David Barrett, Mid-Atlantic Regional Group, recently played against Chess International Grandmaster Rashad Babaev of Azerbaijan in a simultaneous chess exhibition on January 27 at an indoor shopping mall in Manassas, Virginia. To prepare for the match, David used a Chess board made for the blind and provided to him by his Visual Impairment Services Team Coordinator, Courtney Whatley of the Washington, DC VA Medical Center. The board, pictured here with David (far right), Babaev himself, and onlookers, was bright black and white. 
 
Simultaneous exhibition in this case means several competitors and several matches going against the Grandmaster all at once.
 
“Grandmaster Babaev played 50 people all at once,” said David. “I was lucky enough to finish in the top half, but it still took more than three hours.”
 
He also said that any chess player could sign up to compete, but that the demand to participate was high and he was fortunate to be selected. From everything he could see, there were no other blind or visually impaired participants.
 
David Barrett is a Coast Guard and law enforcement veteran from Haymarket, Virginia. He has also raised funds for BVA while playing music in the street or other public places in the Washington, DC, metropolitan area with his bagpipes and Irish whistles. In 2021, he released an album of music entitled “Starting to See—Tunes to Support our Blinded Veteran,” giving away CDs with requests for donations. For more information about David’s music, click here.