Chess
Zerodha founder Nikhil Kamath admits to cheating in a game against Viswananth Anand
Kamath’s statement has faced a huge backlash, with some of the top chess players from the country, including GM Surya Sekhar Ganguly, GM Srinath and IM Tania Sachdev hitting out at him for cheating.
Nikhil Kamath and Viswanathan Anand
The 'Checkmate Covid-19' initiative by chess.com was expected to bring some entertainment for Indian chess fans whilst also raising funds for covid-19 relief in the country, with the former World Champion, Viswanathan Anand, engaging in exhibition matches with celebrities like Bollywood star Aamir Khan, cricketer Yuzvendra Chahal and others.
But, things seemed to have taken an ugly turn when India's youngest billionaire and co-founder of Zerodha, Nikhil Kamath, resorted to the use of an engine to defeat Anand in the charity stream.
While fans watching the stream immediately called out that Kamath's accurate moves were suspicious, the panel present in the stream at that point decided not to point it out at that moment, even as Anand graciously resigned from the match.
This led to fans lashing out against Kamath on social media platforms accusing him of cheating against the World Champion, that too in a charity match.
Kamath, on the other hand, accepted that he was helped by an engine and the 'graciousness' of Anand himself, indicating that the game was pre-decided.
"Yesterday was one of those days that I had dreamt of when I was a really young kid learning chess, to interact with Viswanathan Anand. Got the opportunity thanks to Akshaypatra and their idea of raising funds for charity conducting a bunch of chess games with Vishy. It is ridiculous that so many are thinking that I really beat Vishy in a chess game, that is almost like me waking up and winning a 100mt race with Usain Bolt."
"I had help from people analyzing the game, computers and the graciousness of Anand sir himself to treat the game as a learning experience. This was for fun and charity. In hindsight, it was quite silly as I didn't realise all the confusion that can get caused due to this. Apologies," read Kamath's statement.
Viswanathan Anand soon hit back at the billionaire, stating that he had fun 'upholding the ethics of the game' and expected the same from everyone.
"Yesterday was a celebrity simul for people to raise money. It was a fun experience upholding the ethics of the game. I just played the position on the board and expected the same from everyone," the former World Champion tweeted.
Kamath's statement has faced a huge backlash, with some of the top chess players from the country, including GM Surya Sekhar Ganguly, GM Srinath and IM Tania Sachdev hitting out at him for cheating.
