Billionaire start-up founder beats Viswanathan Anand in chess movie star fundraiser sport, admits ‘took help, sorry’

IT WAS a high-profile fund-raiser that had all of the elements of a blockbuster: five-time former world champion Viswanathan Anand taking over Bollywood star Aamir Khan, singers Arijit Singh and Ananya Birla, cricketer Yuzvendra Chahal, younger billionaire Nikhil Kamath, and movie producer Sajid Nadiadwala — all on the similar time.
But the movie star on-line chess occasion ended up being marred by a weird controversy involving Kamath, who’s the founding father of Zerodha, a unicorn inventory brokerage agency.
At the occasion to boost funds for Akshaya Patra Foundation, the 34-year-old beat Anand on the Checkmate Covid Celebrity Edition hosted by chess.com. But hours after the sport, chess.com, which live-streamed the motion, closed Kamath’s account for violation of its honest play coverage.
On Monday, Kamath issued a public apology on Twitter, admitting that his Grandmaster-like strikes had been solely attainable due to exterior assist.
“It is ridiculous that so many are thinking that I really beat Vishy sir in a chess game, that is almost like me waking up and winning a 100 mt race with Usain Bolt. I had help from the 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,” he posted.
That tweet, nevertheless, appeared to have soured the scenario additional.
A board place throughout the Anand vs Nikhil Kamath match
Anand’s supervisor and spouse Aruna stated Kamath had spoken to them over telephone earlier than sharing the textual content of what he was going to tweet.
“Anand didn’t insinuate anything but said he will go by what the algorithm (used by the fair play team at chess.com) says. He told Kamath, ‘please do not personally involve me in whatever you want to say. Whatever you do in your personal capacity to clear the situation is your call, but do not use my name in your personal tweets’,” Aruna advised The Indian Express.
On Kamath’s tweet, Aruna stated: “It (tweet) basically alleges that Anand was helping him and it is the most outrageous thing I have heard in Anand’s career. He (Kamath) has taken a lie and used another lie to cover that. If he was helped by computers and friends, so be it. That is on his conscience. But he can’t drag Anand’s name and say Anand helped him.”
Anand selected to not get dragged into the controversy. In a brief tweet, he stated: “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.”
At the occasion, Kamath, who has performed chess as a teen, began with a rarely-used opening to lose a pawn. But after the early setback, a lot to everybody’s shock, he pushed Anand to the restrict in a 30-minute speedy sport. Anand graciously resigned as an alternative of ready for Kamath, who performed with black items and had simply seconds left, to expire of time.
On Monday, Kamath didn’t reply to textual content messages and calls from The Indian Express looking for remark.
Grandmaster Pravin Thipsay stated: “Anand is a master of tactics, accuracy and calculations. Even (world champion) Magnus Carlsen hasn’t beaten Anand in this way. It was obvious that he (Kamath) was getting external help.”

Chess.com, which was fast to dam Kamath’s account, stated its Fair Play Team comprised a number of specialists, together with titled gamers and engineers who specialize in algorithms.
“Our systems have been thoroughly vetted by mathematicians and experts in the fields of data science and audits have shown that chess.com makes its decisions conservatively and with the confidence that an account once closed is statistically certain to have violated rules,” Danny Rensch, chief chess officer of chess.com, stated in a press release.
The storm did have a silver lining, although: chess.com director Rakesh Kulkarni stated the occasion raised about Rs 12 lakh.