Nikhil Kamath, co-founder of Zerodha and Team Beacon, created quite the flutter recently after he apparently defeated Vishwanathan Anand in a game of chess. The result shocked everyone, as Anand is a Chess Grandmaster and Kamath is not known to be very proficient in Chess.
Since then, Nikhil Kamath has issued a statement over the matter. He said, “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.”
Nikhil Kamath also admitted that he had help from “people analyzing the game, computers and the graciousness of Anand Sir himself to treat the game as a learning experience.” Meanwhile, Chess.com has banned his account for violating its fair-play policy.
During the match, Kamath had a 98.9% accuracy rate while Vishwanathan Anand managed 92.7%. The Grandmaster played White while India’s youngest billionaire played Black. Since the victory, Kamath has admitted that he had outside help.
Fans, meanwhile, are mightily displeased with Kamath for what they call ‘cheating’. Some expressed their pleasure with his ban from the platform.
Fans are also angry because the game was part of a charity fundraiser event. And Kamath chose to cheat even in that. The game was part of efforts to raise funds Covid-19 relief in India.