Chess is one of the seven IBSA sports that are competing in the 2023 IBSA World Games, which are taking place at the University of Birmingham campus until August 27th.

The Romanian Mihail-Dacian Pribeanu, 45, Fide Master – one of the three degrees that recognise the best world chess players –, is not even the best ranked player in the competition. Dacian is the third best, with 2101 points in Rtg (ranking), behind the Bulgarian Rasim Nizam (2179 Rtg) and International Master, another level, and the Hungarian Zoltan Zambo (2294 Rtg), also Fide Master. Nevertheless, his story is worth knowing.

Dacian was born in the poor Romanian village of Lupeni. His father, who still, at 84, loves to play and does it online like any common mortal, taught him how to play chess when he was only four years old.

“I was born with very low vision, so when I was six years old, I had to go to a special school for blind kids in Timisoara. I was very lucky because my first teacher was a psychologist and played chess very well. One day, in 1984, in one of his classes, he showed us the game between Kasparov and Karpov and asked us if we knew which was the brilliant move that made Kasparov win. I have to confess that I wanted to be the first to say something, and I said that the genius move that made him win was the very first one. My teacher congratulated me because I was right. It was the first move that made him win!”, recalls Dacian, completing immediately after: “That was the moment that my dream was born. I wanted to meet Kasparov”.

#Accessibility – Mihail-Dacian Pribeanu is touching his white pieces on his chess set during the first game he played in the 2023 IBSA World Games and won against the Colombian Lyda Marcela Sepulveda.

Which really happened 18 years later, in 2002, in Linares, Spain, where the tournament that gathered the 10 best blind and visually impaired chess players of the world took place. Parallel to it, the best 10 chess players in the world were also competing, and Kasparov was there.

“I was thrilled to finally meet Kasparov and shake his hand, but I also got worried. Actually, I learned a very important lesson that day. When I was a child, I only wished to meet him. I should have dreamed of playing against him. We have to dream big and don’t be afraid of it”.

New linguistic programme
to optimize the brain

Master Dacian Pribeanu graduated in sociology from the University of Sibiu, Romania. He now works as a trainer, not only coaching chess but also in a new linguistic programme called ‘Mind Games 64’.

“It is my innovation in education. A study combined to optimise the brain. My clients are companies and private individuals who wish to think in a better way”, said Dacian. But how exactly does it work? Does he get enough pupils? “Everybody can search for my project on the internet, but it has been working better when satisfied people talk to others. For instance, I had a medical doctor who appointed me to his wife, who is a judge, and wanted to pass the exam for the next level in her career. I don’t know much about laws and the judicial system, and I don’t need to, but I helped her with logic and convertible intelligence, which is what chess teaches us all! She passed, by the way”, explained Dacian with a triumphal smile on his face.

Although Dacian is not the best-ranked player in the World Games tournament, the Romanian Master came to win. “Of course! That’s what I’m here for! There is absolutely no reason to be afraid”.

Remember the lesson: dream big!