Chess.com India did a charity stream where different celebrities came together to play with the formal five-times world champion Viswanathan Anand. Everyone expected the game to be one way since all of the guests were not strong chess players. But the youngest billionaire of India Nikhil Kamath played phenomenally well which surprised everyone. Even the host Samaya Raina and Tania were surprised by the play of the Nikhil and even in the post-match interview, Nikhil didn’t show any sign of using external help to defeat the world champion. But people started to think that something might be fishy especially because the accuracy was 99%.
So the Zerodha CEO Nikhil Kamath played a charity chess match against Visvanathan Anand for COViD relief.
Gamed the system to win.
Got his chess profile banned.
A little shameful to cheat to win against a World champ. pic.twitter.com/67GvU2j6tD— MB (@desiboho) June 13, 2021
When people started to analyze his older games they were shocked
Nikhil Kamath 3 days back got scholars mated. Today he beat a 5-time World Champion. Kids, this is what parents expect from you 🙂 #CheckmateCovid @chesscom_in @TaniaSachdev @ReheSamay @vishy64theking pic.twitter.com/1sbt7yFcUa
— Sooraj Jayaraman (@SoorajJayaraman) June 13, 2021
After the huge backlash, finally, he admitted that he was cheating against the Viswanathan Anand. Then suddenly Nikhil Kamath Cheating Scandal became a trending topic in social media. People who love chess felt it was disheartening and were not happy by the apology of Nikhil Kamath. He basically said in his apology that
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. 😬 pic.twitter.com/UoazhNiAZV
— Nikhil Kamath (@nikhilkamathcio) June 14, 2021
How Chess World Reacted To Nikhil Kamath Cheating Scandal
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 onthe board and expected the same from everyone . pic.twitter.com/ISJcguA8jQ
— Viswanathan Anand (@vishy64theking) June 14, 2021
Woke up to this. Complete disrespect to chess. Nothing justifies cheating. Going back to sleep https://t.co/d8RCCst3TG
— Tania Sachdev (@TaniaSachdev) June 14, 2021
Another host Samaya Raina was also not happy with the apology
This is like breaking a plate and trying to fix it with glue https://t.co/OSPqDw9kPo
— Samay Raina (@ReheSamay) June 14, 2021
India’s number 2 chess player Hari Krishna was also shocked by this incident
How can cheating be fun in a COVID charity event? You disrespected not only chess but also other guests and thousands of fans watching the event. https://t.co/QXiddAduIH
— Harikrishna (@HariChess) June 14, 2021
Srinath Narayanan was one of the first Grandmaster who called out Nikhil after chess.com banned Nikhil from their platform.
Oh 'fish', he has a company that deals with 'stock' 😄 https://t.co/hIlHIbC8Ex
— Srinath Narayanan (@srinathchess) June 14, 2021
Another Grandmaster Kevin Goh Wei Ming also commented on the incident
This has got to be right up there as one of the worst attempts at making a save after being caught blatantly cheating. https://t.co/NcYRNjI5SP
— Kevin Goh Wei Ming (@kevingohwm) June 14, 2021
Here are the some of the reaction from famous chess personalities
how could you cheat against Vishy? AND during an online fundraising event… 😡
— Eric Hansen (@hansenchess) June 13, 2021
After blundering pawn in first move (1.Nf3 e5) I wonder which friend could beat @vishy64theking. Of course Anand didn't know anything apart from the strength of the engine. Respect for Anand keeps growing. Amazing composure and sportsmanship by the #legend. Ridiculous indeed 🙂 https://t.co/0DLfJSFUzI
— Surya Sekhar Ganguly (@suryachess64) June 14, 2021
So we have to come to a point where people think it's fun to cheat 😌 and openly brag about it. #Onlinecheating is ruining the game. https://t.co/H3VkjhZFQc
— Sethuraman (@sethuramanchess) June 14, 2021
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