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Aamir Khan-Viswanathan Anand's chess duel to raise COVID-19 relief funds
Aamir Khan to play chess against former champ Viswanathan Anand for COVID-19 relief

Aamir Khan-Viswanathan Anand's chess duel to raise COVID-19 relief funds

Jun 10, 2021
07:43 pm

What's the story

Aamir Khan will take on former world champion Viswanathan Anand in a game of chess to raise funds for COVID-19 relief. An online forum Chess.com announced about the match on their Twitter handle recently, informing that it will help raise fund for chess community members who have been affected by the virus. To note, Khan has played chess against Anand previously as well.

Announcement

'The moment you all have been waiting for'

The forum said in their tweet, "The moment you all have been waiting for! Superstar Aamir Khan, ardent chess lover, will be playing an exhibition match against former world champion Vishy Anand! Please feel free to donate generously to make this event a success." The virtual event has been named a cheeky Checkmate Covid. Many top celebrities like Sajid Nadiadwala might also participate.

Twitter Post

Here's how the announcement was made

Information

Arijit Singh, Riteish Deshmukh, Ananya Birla are the other participants

Not only Khan and Nadiadwala, known faces such as Arijit Singh, Riteish Deshmukh, Ananya Birla, Manu Kumar Jain (Xiaomi India MD), are among the many others who will take on the Indian chess grandmaster. Hrithik Roshan also gave it a boost by posting a video.

Details

The match will be streamed live on June 13

According to the organizers, the match will be streamed live on June 13 from 5 PM to 8 PM on Chesscom's YouTube channel. The Akshaya Patra Foundation is also one of the hosts. Interestingly, the two stalwarts had battled it out on the chess-board in 2015 as well. They share a good bond over their love for chess, and had first met in 2001.

Information

When the champ shyly chose Khan to portray him on-screen

In fact, Anand had also chosen Khan as the actor to portray him on celluloid. "It [would be] nice to have a chess-playing actor, if that got to happen. I say Aamir Khan. That 's the name I usually give out," said the shy champ.

Movie

For now, he's is working on completing 'Laal Singh Chaddha'

For now, Khan is busy completing his venture Laal Singh Chaddha. The film directed by Advait Chandan is the official Hindi remake of Tom Hanks's Oscar winning drama Forrest Gump. The film also stars Kareena Kapoor Khan in a pivotal role. Khan, being a known perfectionist, also went completely off social media to concentrate on the film. It might release on Christmas 2021.

Past development

Khan quitting social media had created quite a stir

While quitting social media, the 3 Idiots star had said that it's better to drop the pretense, considering he isn't active on these platforms. He had gone offline before that, and a source had said then, "Khan feels that he is addicted to his cellphone and that's impacting his personal and professional space." Khan bowed out of social media just after his birthday.