Coronavirus disease outbreak was first by brought about in the China, Wuhan and has become a pandemic. As per latest update the Covid-19 is spreading across the world and has more than 2.8 million confirmed cases of coronavirus now in 185 countries. At least 200,000 people have passed away.
The first case of the coronavirus pandemic in India was identified on 30 January 2020, the total number of cases in India is now 28,063, from which 6,527 are active cases. Overall, 884 deaths have been reported.
The coronavirus pandemic and 21-day national lockdown have brought the nation to standstill and during this tough time numerous individuals from different walks of life have come together to fight the coronavirus in India. During this tough time the underprivileged are facing a lot of hardship and finding it difficult to have one meal a day. This unfortunate scenario has led to Corporates as well as sportspersons coming together in order to help in their fight against coronavirus.
During this tough time the underprivileged are facing a lot of hardship and finding it difficult to have one meal a day. This unfortunate scenario has led to Corporates as well as sportspersons coming together in order to help in their fight against coronavirus. Keeping this in mind, ‘Chess for Charity’ was organized on Saturday and took place on chess.com.
The event was joined by Former world champion Viswanathan Anand, Vidit Gujrathi, Grandmaster Nihal Sarin, Woman Grandmaster Tania Sachdev and Croatia’s Antonio Radic take on a team of comedians comprising Tanmay Bhat, Biswa Kalyan Rath, Samay Raina, Abhishek Upamanyu and Aakash Mehta. The surprise for the fans was participation of India cricketer Yuzvendra Chahal, who very few are aware that he a former national under-12 champion, also participated in the fund-raiser. While interacting with the media,
International Master and Director chess.com-India, Rakesh Kulkarni was quoted saying that “An amount of Rs 8.86 lakh was raised from the event which featured Anand and Gujrathi among others. It was a great gesture by the chess players.”
While interaction with the media, Viswanathan Anand and Yuzvendra Chahal opened their love for chess and motivating when chips are down. “It was a proud feeling representing my country in chess. I enjoyed the travel, meeting new people from different backgrounds and having a mental edge over opponents. I was a positional player with a love for endgames and blitz chess.”
While Anand was quoted saying that “I was struggling for a long period if you like, at least three or four years. Specifically, the time after I lost the 2013 match felt like a crisis. The interesting thing is on previous occasions I’ve come to terms with some disappointment and then found a way of climbing back up. But for the 2014 Candidates, I did a little bit of work with some friends like Surya (Sekhar Ganguly) and (Radoslaw) Wojtaszek but mostly in that period, I ran away from chess.”
As per latest development, the next Online Blitz Tournament will be conducted by Chess Kerala and will be on 2nd May. The fund raised from the event will be donated to the Chief Minister’s Distress Relief Fund. Also, there is no entry fee for the tournament but in order to join the contest has to donate a minimum of Rs 250.The tournament offers a total prize fund of Rs 52,000.
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