Chennai: The co-founder of stock broking company Zerodha Broking Ltd, Nikhil Kamath, on Monday tweeted a reluctant apology for cheating and winning against former world chess champion Viswanathan Anand in a Covid-19 fundraising match.
By cheating in a charity game, Kamath has also put at stake Zerodha Broking's reputation.
"My stock account is with zerodha ... God bless my soul!" tweeted International Master Vishal Sareen.
Also Read
On Sunday, the Indian chess field was shocked when five-time world champion Anand was defeated by Kamath, who made near perfect moves.
"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," Kamath tweeted.
He added: "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 by conducting a bunch of chess games with Vishy."
Continuing further, he said: "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."
On his part, Anand tweeted: "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."
Whether it is a charity or the world title match, Anand takes each game seriously. Those who have watched him at the Tal Chess Club decades ago would recall how Anand would never agree for a draw. It is always a fight to finish.
Later, replying to Anand's tweet said, Kamath said: "@vishy64theking 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. But still gives no excuse for what I did. It was wrong and I sincerely apologise."
The exhibition match on Sunday saw several celebrities from varied fields matching their wits against Anand for the Akshaya Patra Foundation's Covid-19 relief funds.