Tweet
Billionaire cheats against Anand in charity simul
June 15, 2021
From chess24.com
India’s youngest billionaire Nikhil Kamath blundered a pawn on move 1 but then went on to crush 5-time World Chess Champion Vishy Anand in a “Checkmate COVID” charity simul. Nikhil said afterwards that he just got lucky, while the World Champion politely noted, “Today was not the chess of people who just know how the pieces move”. Outrage followed, with Nikhil eventually admitting computer and other help, though his apology implied Vishy was aware his opponent was going to have assistance. The Indian legend made it clear he wasn’t.
In what should have been a purely positive event, the Akshaya Patra Foundation and Chesscom India held a Checkmate COVID event with Vishy Anand, where the 15th World Chess Champion played a simultaneous, live-streamed simul against five players. Although Nikhil Kamath, a 34-year-old billionaire who co-founded brokerage firm Zerodha, is sometimes described as a “chess champion”, his opening move, meeting 1.Nf3 with 1…e5?, blundered a key pawn and suggested otherwise.
From there on, however, Nikhil started to play like a chess god, until he’d actually beaten one of the greatest players of all time.
A well-known way to beat cheats online is to “flag them” on the clock, since using a computer to make moves costs time and they often don't have the basic skills to simply blitz out the moves in a won position. Vishy could easily have done that here, but understandably, in a charity simultaneous event with nothing at stake, he simply resigned and allowed his opponent his moment of glory, or rather, infamy.
https://chess24.com/en/read/news/bil...-charity-simul
From The Times:
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/t...nand-0rdm0rvjh
Vishy Anand, 51, was roundly defeated in a game in an online tournament, prompting speculation that his powers were on the wane. Soon, however, it emerged that it had not been a fair fight.
Kamath, who has idolised Anand since he began learning chess as a child, admitted deploying a computer algorithm and a team of experts to help him win the 30-minute match.
Amid a storm of criticism Kamath, a billionaire who co-founded a financial services company, apologised for his actions in the charity tournament.
“In my head, it was just a fun game we amateurs were playing against the greatest chess champ from India to raise funds for charity,” he said. “But it still gives no excuse for what I did. It was wrong and I sincerely apologise.”
Kamath said he was shocked that anyone could seriously think that he stood a chance of winning legitimately against Anand. “It’s 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 metre race with Usain Bolt,” he said.
The game:
Checkmate COVID, Chess.com, June 13, 2021
Anand, Viswanathan – Kamath, Nikhil
A04 Reti Opening
1.Nf3 e5 2.Nxe5 d6 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.d4 Nf6 5.d5 Ne5 6.Nc3 Be7 7.e4 O-O 8.Be2 c6 9.O-O cxd5 10.exd5 a6 11.Re1 b5 12.a3 h6 13.Nd4 Bd7 14.Bf4 Rc8 15.Bf3 Qb6 16.Bxe5 dxe5 17.Nc6 Bc5 18.Qe2 Rfe8 19.Nxe5 Rxe5 20.Qxe5 Bxf2+ 21.Kf1 Bxe1 22.Qxe1 b4 23.axb4 Qxb4 24.Ra2 Bb5+ 25.Ne2 Qd6 26.Kg1 Rxc2 27.Nc3 Bd7 28.Qe3 Bg4 29.Bxg4 Nxg4 30.Qe8+ Kh7 31.Qe4+ g6 32.Qxg4 Qc5+ 33.Kh1 Rc1+ 34.Nd1 Qxd5 0-1
Position after White’s 31Qe4+
June 15, 2021
From chess24.com
India’s youngest billionaire Nikhil Kamath blundered a pawn on move 1 but then went on to crush 5-time World Chess Champion Vishy Anand in a “Checkmate COVID” charity simul. Nikhil said afterwards that he just got lucky, while the World Champion politely noted, “Today was not the chess of people who just know how the pieces move”. Outrage followed, with Nikhil eventually admitting computer and other help, though his apology implied Vishy was aware his opponent was going to have assistance. The Indian legend made it clear he wasn’t.
In what should have been a purely positive event, the Akshaya Patra Foundation and Chesscom India held a Checkmate COVID event with Vishy Anand, where the 15th World Chess Champion played a simultaneous, live-streamed simul against five players. Although Nikhil Kamath, a 34-year-old billionaire who co-founded brokerage firm Zerodha, is sometimes described as a “chess champion”, his opening move, meeting 1.Nf3 with 1…e5?, blundered a key pawn and suggested otherwise.
From there on, however, Nikhil started to play like a chess god, until he’d actually beaten one of the greatest players of all time.
A well-known way to beat cheats online is to “flag them” on the clock, since using a computer to make moves costs time and they often don't have the basic skills to simply blitz out the moves in a won position. Vishy could easily have done that here, but understandably, in a charity simultaneous event with nothing at stake, he simply resigned and allowed his opponent his moment of glory, or rather, infamy.
https://chess24.com/en/read/news/bil...-charity-simul
From The Times:
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/t...nand-0rdm0rvjh
Vishy Anand, 51, was roundly defeated in a game in an online tournament, prompting speculation that his powers were on the wane. Soon, however, it emerged that it had not been a fair fight.
Kamath, who has idolised Anand since he began learning chess as a child, admitted deploying a computer algorithm and a team of experts to help him win the 30-minute match.
Amid a storm of criticism Kamath, a billionaire who co-founded a financial services company, apologised for his actions in the charity tournament.
“In my head, it was just a fun game we amateurs were playing against the greatest chess champ from India to raise funds for charity,” he said. “But it still gives no excuse for what I did. It was wrong and I sincerely apologise.”
Kamath said he was shocked that anyone could seriously think that he stood a chance of winning legitimately against Anand. “It’s 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 metre race with Usain Bolt,” he said.
The game:
Checkmate COVID, Chess.com, June 13, 2021
Anand, Viswanathan – Kamath, Nikhil
A04 Reti Opening
1.Nf3 e5 2.Nxe5 d6 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.d4 Nf6 5.d5 Ne5 6.Nc3 Be7 7.e4 O-O 8.Be2 c6 9.O-O cxd5 10.exd5 a6 11.Re1 b5 12.a3 h6 13.Nd4 Bd7 14.Bf4 Rc8 15.Bf3 Qb6 16.Bxe5 dxe5 17.Nc6 Bc5 18.Qe2 Rfe8 19.Nxe5 Rxe5 20.Qxe5 Bxf2+ 21.Kf1 Bxe1 22.Qxe1 b4 23.axb4 Qxb4 24.Ra2 Bb5+ 25.Ne2 Qd6 26.Kg1 Rxc2 27.Nc3 Bd7 28.Qe3 Bg4 29.Bxg4 Nxg4 30.Qe8+ Kh7 31.Qe4+ g6 32.Qxg4 Qc5+ 33.Kh1 Rc1+ 34.Nd1 Qxd5 0-1
Position after White’s 31Qe4+
Comment