The Exhibition Matches of Viswanathan Anand Raise $ 50,000 for COVID-19 Relief.
A series of simultaneous online exhibition matches with, among others, five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand to support COVID relief in India raised USD 50,000 (approximately INR 37 lakh).
The event was held on Chess.com with top Indian players and proceeds would go to the Indian Red Cross and the Checkmate COVID initiative of the Chess Federation of India (AICF), Chess.com officials said.
On Thursday, Grandmaster Anand, as well as GMs Koneru Humpy, Harika Dronavalli, Nihal Sarin, and Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu played simultaneous games on Chess.com against a total of 105 players.
Any player with a Chess.com blitz or FIDE standard rating below 2000 could play with former world champion Anand donating $ 150 and the other four DJs paying $ 25 as a registration fee.
The time control for the games was 30 minutes with an increment of 30 seconds, and the grandmasters had an additional 15 minutes on their clock. The GMs won with high scores, but only Praggnanandhaa managed to win all their games.
“We are facing a kind of national struggle. It varies from state to state but is extremely critical at this time. I hope this is a resource for the chess community. Some of us have had Covid and now hopefully they at least have someone to call and communicate, ”Anand was quoted as saying by chess.com.
India is currently recovering from a devastating second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic with more than three lakh of new cases and more than 3,000 deaths being reported daily.
She is a freelance blogger, writer, and speaker, and writes for various entertainment magazines.