Vishwanathan Anand to play against fans to raise funds for COVID-19

India’s chess maestro Viswanathan Anand along with Koneru Humpy, Dronavalli Harika, Nihal Sarin and Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa will be playing simultaneous online exhibition games on Thursday to raise funds for COVID-19 relief in India.

The fans, who who have a Chess.com blitz or FIDE standard rating of under 2000, will get an unique opportunity to play against former World champion Anand if they make a donation of $150 and against the other players by paying $25 as registration amount.

The website said it will match all donations up to a total of US$ 10,000.

All the proceeds from the simultaneous exhibitions involving Anand, Koneru Humpy, Dronavalli Harika, Nihal Sarin and Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu will go to RedCross India and the Checkmate COVID initiative of the All India Chess Federation (AICF).

“We all know India is struggling hard against COVID-19. At this time, we all have been affected in some way. I don’t think there is a single person young or old who has not been affected by this,” Anand said in a video message posted on Chess.com.

“Let us support COVID relief in India. You can play some of India’s finest grandmasters, and have Chess.com match your donations. Please sign up to participate in Checkmate COVID this Thursday. This is a little contribution from our chess fraternity.

“I look forward to being there and hope we raise money and spirits!

International Master Danny Rensch and Samay Raina will host the Livestream on Chess.com/tv.

“As you all know India is struggling hard against COVID-19 we have each been affected in some way. Let’s all help support COVID-19 relief in India,” Anand said in a video posted by Chess.com India.

“You can play some of India’s finest grandmasters and have Chess.com match your donation. So please sign up to participate in Checkmate COVID and match your donations this Thursday at 7:30 pm,” he added.

With over one hundred games running concurrently across all simuls, time control of 30 minutes with a 30-second increment will be used for all games.

-ANI