Billionaire start-up founder Nikhil Kamath ‘cheats’ to win charity chess match against Vishy, tweets apology

Viswanathan Anand, a five-time former world champion, was matched up against Bollywood star Aamir Khan, singers Arijit Singh and Ananya Birla, cricketer Yuzvendra Chahal, young billionaire Nikhil Kamath, and film producer Sajid Nadiadwala in a high-profile fund-raiser that had all the makings of a blockbuster.

However, a peculiar issue involving Kamath, the founder of Zerodha, a unicorn stock brokerage website, spoiled the celebrity online chess event.

The 34-year-old defeated Anand at the Checkmate Covid Celebrity Edition organised by chess.com to raise funds for the Akshaya Patra Foundation. However, chess.com, which live-streamed the game, suspended Kamath's account for violating its fair play rules hours after the game.

Kamath apologised publicly on Twitter on Monday, confessing that his Grandmaster-like movements were only possible because of outside help.

“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 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 posted.

That tweet, however, appeared to have soured the situation further.

Kamath had spoken to Anand's manager and wife Aruna over the phone before sharing the text of what he was going to post, according to Aruna.

“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 told in an interview.

On Kamath’s tweet, Aruna said: “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 chose not to get dragged into the controversy. In a short tweet, he said: “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.”

Also Read: Watch: Kid’s adorable reaction as Djokovic gives him racket after historic win in French Open

Kamath, who has been playing chess since he was a teenager, began the game with a rarely seen move to lose a pawn. But, much to everyone's amazement, he pushed Anand to the limit in a 30-minute rapid game. Instead of waiting for Kamath, who was playing with black pieces and had only seconds left, to run out of time, Anand respectfully withdrew.

Kamath did not react to The Indian Express's text messages or phone calls seeking comment on Monday.

Grandmaster Pravin Thipsay said: “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 quickly suspended Kamath's account, stated its Fair Play Team was made up of multiple professionals, including titled players and algorithm programmers.

“Our methods have been thoroughly vetted by mathematicians and data science professionals, and audits have demonstrated that chess.com takes its judgments conservatively and with the certainty that an account will be closed it means it has broken the rules.

The storm did have a silver lining, according to Rakesh Kulkarni, director of chess.com, who stated the event raised almost Rs 12 lakh.