CHENNAI: A series of simultaneous online exhibition matches, featuring five-time world champ Viswanathan Anand, and other top Grandmasters from the country generated a good response. An initiative to raise money for Covid relief, the matches fetched around $50,000 (around Rs 37 lakh).
The event was held on Chess.com with some top Indian players taking part along with Anand. The proceeds will go to Red Cross India and the Checkmate Covid initiative of the All-India Chess Federation (AICF). On Thursday, Anand and GMs Koneru Humpy, Harika Dronavalli, Nihal Sarin, and R Praggnanandhaa played simultaneous games against a total of 105 players.
Any player with a Chess.com blitz or FIDE standard rating of under 2000 could play with former world champion Anand by donating $150 and with the other four GMs by paying $ 25 as registration fees.