The Color of Darkness is White
In conversation with Dr. Kerim Altinok and Dr. Selim Altinok Written by Dora Martinez (dora@lensethics.org)Contributor: Seçkin SerpilPhotos courtesy of Kerim and Selim Altinok Where would the color of darkness fall on Sir Isaac Newton’s color wheel? Color does not exist outside of our minds and our perception of color is certainly personal and subjective, usually shaped by our experience and even culture. But, what if — we lost our sight? I spent most of my childhood seeing from the perspective of a child whose mother had lost her vision, interpreting my world through light, shadows, whites, greys, hues, and contrasts. The loss of vision was not my own but, that didn’t matter — in my young mind, even smells were assigned a color. Creative people like to challenge the status quo, we don’t accept the hand we are dealt. Instead, we carve a path for ourselves, shaping the world around us, one move at a time. Meet Dr. Kerim Altinok and Dr. Selim Altinok, they are identical twins, doctors, musicians, writers, lawyers, and yes…chessplayers. Kerim and Selim are both participating in the first FIDE Online Chess Olympiad for People with Disabilities as part of a team from Turkey. We sat down for a chat, much in the same way we are all communicating during the pandemic — with a Zoom call. When did you both start to play chess? We started playing chess when we were 14 years old. During a visit to our grandparents’ home, we saw a wooden chess set and we were drawn to it. Our grandfather taught us how to play and gave us a chess book. After learning and playing for 6 months, we won against our grandfather and after that, he never won again. What do you think about playing in the first Online Chess Olympiad for People with Disabilities? We are excited to participate in this tournament. Especially because there are many strong young players. We have been playing online for a very long time and have even created a guide for players with visual impairments on how to use the accessibility features on LiChess which is on YouTube. Playing independently is very important for us but, for this tournament, we have to play with the help of an assistant. This is not so ideal because we have to say our move, wait for the assistant and this is not so good for concentration. We hope that for the next online Chess Olympiad for People with Disabilities, Tornelo’s platform will be accessible for people with a total loss of vision. Other than that, we are very happy to be participating in the event. You lost your vision completely at the age of 18. At that time, you had already been playing chess for 4 years. Having lost your vision gradually, did this in a way give you some time to figure out how to adapt to the changes that were coming? What were the challenges you faced in securing chess equipment as players with a visual impairment? At 14, we started to play chess on a normal board. As our vision worsened, we tried to play chess near the window to use the natural light. Before we lost our vision completely, there was no internet, so we found a carpenter that could make a chessboard and pieces the way we wanted. This board was not so practical because it was so big. Now, we have boards that are more practical and easier to travel with. The carpenter that made the chessboard for us was blind. He has since passed away but, we have the board he made for us and he lives in our mind. How has chess impacted your life? Like art and mathematics, chess is like a mirror of life. In life and chess, you might have a hopeless position but, it can be changed. With chess, you can change the situation because in another game, with a good fight, you might change the result. If chess is like life, how do you overcome wins and losses on and off the board? After a long chess game, losing the game is not easy. But, we know that our worst games teach us a lot of things, much more than our wins. If I lose a game, I feel happy if there is a good position because I played my best. Art can be therapeutic when dealing with the challenges in our lives. I think chess has the power to do the same. Does chess provide that for you? There are similarities between life and chess. But, life is stronger than chess and can be a heavy burden. If I want to leave my home, there are many obstacles. When life gets challenging, playing chess provides some release from the challenges because it requires deep concentration. You are lawyers and you advocate for the rights of people with disabilities. Can you give us an example of the work you’ve done in this field? Making laws is good but, without education, laws are not enough. For us, education is more important because sometimes laws are not enforced. We focus on education because education has the power to touch people, and laws don’t always touch people. Our work in education is very important to us. We have written a chess guide in braille and have created many audio chess books for the visually impaired. We would like to make these books accessible to as many visually impaired people as possible. In addition to the chess books we have written, we have also written an autobiography called, “The Color of Darkness is White”. How did you come up with the title for your autobiography? We had many talks about what the title should be. We decided on this name because when people think of darkness, the color that comes to mind is black. But, if we accept that darkness is black, we accept a hopeless situation. When we say that the color of darkness is white, this is our perspective