After using unfair means to defeat Viswanathan Anand in a chess game, Zerodha co-founder Nikhil Kamath disregarded the chess grandmaster’s wishes after he had asked the billionaire to not be named in any public communication. Anand’s wife and manager, Aruna Anand, said her husband had expressly asked Kamath to refrain from naming him, but he nevertheless did it.
According to Aruna Anand, her husband was contacted by the Zerodha co-founder who wanted to explain his apology to him. “Well, Nikhil contacted Anand today and explained this tweet. Anand replied to say that he can’t deny the algorithm and personally wouldn’t comment on the issue,” Aruna said.
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— ChessBase India (@ChessbaseIndia) June 14, 2021
… He requested Mr. Kamath not to involve Anand’s name in his Tweets or in his course of action. That he went ahead and did it and allege something is disrespectful.”
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She further added, “He requested Mr Kamath not to involve Anand’s name in his Tweets or in his course of action. That he went ahead and did it and allege something is disrespectful.”
Zerodha co-founder Nikhil Kamath admits he had resorted to cheating to defeat chess grandmaster Vishwanathan Anand
Nikhil Kamath Monday issued an apology for using unfair means to win a chess game against chess grandmaster Viswanathan Anand. The apology came after Chess.com suspended the billionaire’s account for violating its Fair Play Policy. Kamath had yesterday used in-game analysts and computers to defeat Viswanathan Anand in an online game of chess.
“Yesterday was one of those days that I had dreamt of when I was a really young kid learning chess, to interact with Vishwanath Anand,” Kamath said in a statement posted to his Twitter account.
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 100mt race with Usain Bolt. 😬 pic.twitter.com/UoazhNiAZV
— Nikhil Kamath (@nikhilkamathcio) June 14, 2021
The statement further read: “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 analysing 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 added.
To this, Anand humbly responded, “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.”
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 onthe board and expected the same from everyone . pic.twitter.com/ISJcguA8jQ
— Viswanathan Anand (@vishy64theking) June 14, 2021
Anand had been playing chess games against various celebrities including actor Aamir Khan, cricketer Yuzvendra Chahal and Kamath for charity to help combat the Covid-19 pandemic. While other players were defeated easily, Anand was surprisingly defeated by Nikhil Kamath. However, he was soon banned by the platform for using unfair means to win the match.
The All India Chess Federation (AICF) Secretary Bharat Chauhan, after the match, said that the move was “unfortunate” in a charity chess game and it shouldn’t have happened.
