Aamir Khan quits chess-match against Viswanathan Anand before end time
Some days back, we reported that Aamir Khan will play a chess game against ex-champion Viswanathan Anand to raise COVID-19 funds. But, the actor, a known chess enthusiast, quit almost 10 minutes before his slot ended. By then, Vishy's King was well-protected, while Khan had lost most of his pieces. Not everything was lost though. The initiative did manage to raise over Rs. 10L.
The event, which was live-streamed on Chess.com's YouTube channel, had Anand take on many personalities in 30-minute matches. Khan, who has played Anand earlier too, made a strong opening, but couldn't keep up with the Grandmaster, and was cornered easily. Khan was playing virtual chess for the first time, and asked the anchors how to resign with six minutes to go on his clock.
Anand played two sets of celebrities in the event. First set consisted of producer Sajid Nadiadwala, actor Riteish Deshmukh and Kichha Sudeep among others. Anand played all the players simultaneously on a virtual chess board. Even though he was going relatively easy on the players, he managed to defeat Chahal in only 12 moves. Chess champ Tania Sachdev co-hosted the event, and provided insights.
Apart from Khan, the second set comprised singers Arijit Singh, Ananya Birla and MD of Xiaomi India, Manu Kumar Jain, who was joined by his young son. Singh, who recently lost his mother to COVID-19, was one of the easiest wins for Anand, while Birla tried putting up a strong fight. The event that lasted over four hours gained more than seven lakh views.
The proceeds collected from this will go to members of the Chess community, who have been affected by COVID-19. The match was a part of the event titled Checkmate Covid, organized by Chess.com-India in association with the Akshay Patra Foundation. To note, Akshay Patra Foundation has been helping people affected by COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic, mainly through food distribution drives.
