ICCD World Deaf Chess Championship 2024 recently concluded in Belgrade, Serbia.

Founded in 1949 in Copenhagen, Denmark, the International Chess Committee of the Deaf (ICCD) sees its main goal in popularizing chess playing among deaf people of all nations, upgrading their cultural level and chess proficiency, and achieving close international cooperation between deaf chess players in their game pursuant to the chess rules and in any other sports events.

The championship, which ran from June 25 to July 6, brought together hearing-impaired players representing 26 national federations. The program included six main competitions in open, women, junior, and senior categories, as well as several side events.

The 18th ICCD World Individual Deaf Chess Championship, a nine-round Swiss tournament, was a fiercely competitive event. The rating favorites Yehuda Gruenfeld (Israel) and Pawel Piekielny (Poland) dominated the field, both scoring 7/9 and tying for first place. The Israeli GM secured the victory on a superior Buchholz tiebreak, with the 25th seed Sultan Kozhakhmetov of Kazakhstan taking bronze.

18th ICCD World Individual Deaf Championship final standings

WIM Tatiana Baklanova and WCM Natalya Myronenko (both from Ukraine) were in a league of their own in the 8th ICCD World Individual Deaf Ladies Chess Championship. The Ukrainians netted an impressive 8/9 and shared the top position, with Tatiana capturing the title thanks to just a 0.5 Bucholz difference. Zuzanna Lukasik of Poland finished third.

8th ICCD World Individual Deaf Ladies Championship final standings

The champions, Yehuda Gruenfeld and Tatiana Baklanova, confirmed their class, winning blitz events. Tatiana earned a triple crown, also taking the women's rapid event, while Pawel Piekielny triumphed in the open rapid tournament.

In the 4th ICCD World Deaf Individual Senior Championship, just 0.25 Sonneborn Berger points separated the champion, Sergej Salov (Germany), from the runner-up Berik Nurymov (Kazakhstan). Both scored 5/7 and tied for first place. Abdigappar Adilbaev (Uzbekistan) completed the podium thanks to a better tiebreaker over Jaroslav Schmid.

The top seeds, Marsel Shayusupov (Uzbekistan) and Bruno Glas (Slovenia) reigned supreme in the junior event and tied for the top position with 8/9. Thanks to a slightly better Sonneborn Berger, the title goes to Marcel, while his countryman Sardor Turgunboev won bronze.

ICCD official website: chessdeaf.org/