Chess players raise over Rs 2.39 lakh for PM CARES Fund

A total of 17 Grandmasters and over 180 chess players participated came together to take part in an online blitz event to raise over Rs 2.39 lakh towards the PM CARES Fund for COVID-19 relief.

The players who participated in the "Let's Fight Corona Together" fundraiser online blitz organised on Thursday by ChessBase India, a chess portal, included India's No.2 Vidit Gujrathi, national champion Aravindh Chithambaram and Nihal Sarin among others, a press release said.

Gujrathi, Sarin and Chithambaram finished on top with eight points from nine rounds before Sarin claimed the top spot on tiebreak.

The main aim of the event was to raise money for the PM CARES Fund for coronavirus relief and a total of Rs 2,39,742 was collected.

The country is under a 21-day lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic which has led to the death of over 90,000 people worldwide and over 190 in India.

Gujrathi also did live streaming of his games and his efforts resulted in a collection of Rs 37,028 in under two hours, the release said.

Apart from Gujrathi, Sarin and Chithambaram, young GM D Gukesh and veteran Dibyendu Barua took part in the event.

GM Arjun Erigaisi contributed Rs 25,000 and GMs K Sasikiran, Neelotpal Das and Barua contributed Rs 20,000 each.

There was no entry fee, but one had to contribute a minimum of Rs 100 to participate in the event, the release said adding all the money was collected was to be transferred to the PM CARES fund for the fight against COVID-19.

The release further said ChessBase India is also holding live sessions during the lockdown period in both English (IM Sagar Shah) and Hindi (FI Niklesh Jain) and they have raised Rs 74,179 in the last 16 days of the lockdown.