Chess.com reinstates Zerodha co-founder Nikhil Kamath, others’ accounts after cheating incident

Representative Image.

Zerodha co-founder Nikhil Kamath, film producer Sajid Nadiadwala and actor Kichcha Sudeep saw their online chess accounts reinstated after Chess.com said that although the three celebrities made a mistake, they did so because they did not understand the rules and played in good faith.

Zerodha’s Kamath was first banned by Chess.com on June 14 for using non-approved analytics and assistance to beat chess Viswanathan Anand in a charity chess tournament. Later, Sudeep and Nadiadwala were also found to have cheated.

While Kamath apologised later and said he had not intended to cheat- it was in lighter vein- Anand and the chess platform were miffed by the incident.

“Chess.com has elected to reopen all of the accounts in question during the event. Given the forthcoming cooperation of the players and the clarification that not all the rules were properly understood, neither Chess.com nor Anand himself see any reason to uphold the matter any further,” Chess.com said in a statement.

“While he (Anand) wants clearly expressed that he does not endorse the use of non-approved assistance in chess, he fully agrees that the games were played in good faith for the fun and good intentions of the charitable efforts, and wishes the matter be put to rest,” the statement added.

Kamath and others came in for severe criticism from chess fans and the general public alike.

“It is ridiculous that so many are thinking that I really beat Vishy in a chess game, that is almost like me waking up and winning a 100mt race with Usain Bolt,” Kamath said on June 14.

“I had help from people analysing the game, computers and the graciousness of Anand sir himself to treat the game as a learning experience. This was for fun and charity. In hindsight, it was quite silly as I didn’t realise all the confusion that can get caused due to this. Apologies…,” he added.