Zerodha co-founder Nikhil Kamath has apologised after facing flak for resorting to unfair means in order to beat the former world champion, Viswanathan Anand, in a charity match

HIGHLIGHTS

• Zerodha co-founder Nikhil Kamath apologises for cheating Viswanathan Anand in charity match
• Nikhil Kamath’s misdemeanour overshadowed the noble cause
• Kamath’s Chess.com account has been banned following the match

Nikhil Kamath, co-founder of Zerodha apologised on Twitter and admitted that he resorted to unfair means in order to beat former world champion Viswanathan Anand in an online charity Chess event. Kamath apologised for his misdemeanour and said he had help from people analysing the game and computers.

The billionaire’s Chess.com account has been banned following the match. Chess.com is an online platform for players across the world to play matches virtually.

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. 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,” Kamath said in a statement.

“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 added.

Viswanathan Anand’s simultaneous online chess games against celebrities on Sunday night raised more than Rs 10 lakh. Less than 24 hours later, the event, conducted by chess.com for COVID-19 relief, began to be talked about for all the wrong reasons: one of the players, it turned out, had resorted to unfair practices during his game against the five-time World champion.

Nikhil Kamath had sprung a surprise; he was the only one among the nine celebrities to defeat Anand. Actor Aamir Khan, cricketer Yuzvendra Chahal and singer Arijit Singh had all lost.