Rs. 2,43,243 raised at the "Let's fight Corona Together" online blitz
by Sagar Shah - 10/04/2020
A total of 17 GMs and over 180 players took part in the "Let's fight Corona together" Fundraiser online blitz organized by ChessBase India on 9th of April 2020. India no.2 Vidit Gujrathi was the top seed. GM Nihal Sarin, GM Aravindh Chithambaram and GM Vidit Gujrathi ended at the top with 8.0/9, with the speed king Nihal taking the top spot on tiebreaks. The main aim of the event was to raise money for the PM CARES fund and we were successful in collecting Rs.2,43,243. GM Vidit Gujrathi not only played but also did live streaming of his games and his efforts resulted in a collection of Rs.37,028 in under two hours. ChessBase India thanks each of the contributors and participants for making it such a grand event.
More than 200 individuals contribute to raise Rs.243,243 for PM CARES fund
9th of April 2020 was a momentous day in the history of Indian chess. The entire Indian chess community came together led by some of the top players to show how chess can not just be used an ideal tool to overcome the mental fatigue during the lockdown, but also to raise funds for India's fight against the Corona virus. The tournament was announced on 4th of April 2020 and within five days we were able to collect a hefty amount of Rs.2,43,743. The idea was to bring together some of the best players of Indian chess to participate in the tournament. It would inspire other chess players to also contribute and play at the event. There was no entry fee, but you had to contribute minimum Rs.100 to participate. All the money that was collected was to be transferred to the PM CARES fund for the fight against Covid19.
A big gesture was made by India no.2 GM Vidit Gujrathi who not only confirmed his participation for his event the moment it was announced, but also said he was keen to stream it live and raise funds with his live commentary. Vidit raised a total of Rs.37028 in under two hours. We will get to the specifics later in the article. | Photo: Prague Chess Festival
The first person who contributed a big amount towards the cause was GM Sasikiran Krishnan. He came forward with an amount of Rs.20,000 | Photo: Lennart Ootes
The next GM who also contributed Rs.20,000 was Neelotpal Das from Kolkata. This is not the first time Neelotpal has been supporting our charitable endeavours. Even in the past he has contributed towards our initiatives and we cannot thank him enough. Says Neelotpal, "
I must say that it is indeed a very good initiative to organize online events for such a noble cause during such a challenging time." | Photo: Amruta Mokal
India's 2nd GM Dibyendu Barua said, "I appreciate the initiative taken by ChessBase India to raise funds to fight against deadly Covid19 and I wholeheartedly support this." He contributed Rs.20,000 towards this cause.
| Photo: Amruta Mokal
Arjun Erigaisi made the biggest contribution, one day before the event. He contributed Rs.25,000. The youngster from Warangal has supported such charitable initiatives in the past as well. He had contributed Rs.50,000 for the victims of Kerala floods. | Photo: Lennart Ootes
Just a few minutes before the tournament was about to begin, GM Nihal Sarin felt like p(l)aying! He contributed Rs.7,500 towards the cause! | Photo: Alina l'Ami
India's strongest chess couple Viji and Sriram Jha and Viji's sister S. Meenakshi contributed Rs.7,000
A total of Rs.30,000 was raised by six players! It was IM Tania Sachdev, GM Magesh Chandran, GM Arun Prasad Subramanian, GM Thejkumar, GM Srinath Narayanan, GM Ankit Rajpara all contributed Rs.5000 each.
The biggest quality of GM R.R. Laxman is that when it comes to online chess he not only enjoys to play it himself, but also brings a lot of his friends to play. Laxman contributed Rs.4,500 but also spread the cause and brought forward many players to participate.
| Photo: Amruta Mokal
There were many titled players who contributed. The names are given in the list below. What I felt inspiring was that these champions showed what social responsibility is all about. They set an example for the youngsters of the country and it could be seen from the contributions made by the little champions.
A youngster like Shiv Shome, who is just 13 years old and contributes Rs.2,500 is inspiring!
Players who contributed and also played the tournament:
Sl.no.
Name
Playchess ID
Donation
Rating
1
GM Arjun Erigaisi
Indian-Lion
25000
2559
2
GM Neelotpal Das
Mandrake
20000
2425
3
GM Dibyendu Barua
Dibyendu Barua
20000
2393
4
GM Nihal Sarin
Nihalsarin
7500
2620
5
GM Srinath Narayanan
NSRINATH
5000
2540
6
GM Magesh Panchanathan
gmmagesh
5000
2508
7
GM Ankit Rajpara
twentyseven
5000
2452
8
IM Tania Sachdev
Tania Sachdev
5000
2392
9
GM Laxman R R
LAXMAN
4500
2411
10
GM Diptayan Ghosh
Diptayan
3000
2541
11
Shiv Shome
kingofall
2500
2237
12
Sonia Singhania
Sonia19861
2100
0
13
IM Nisha Mohota
Nisha Mohota
2018
2106
14
GM Aravindh Chithambaram
hitter1999
2000
2641
15
GM Stany G A
Stany G A
2000
2522
16
Pushkar Dere
sjhs
1001
2254
17
GM Vishnu Prasanna
Fidodido
1000
2476
18
IM Arghyadip Das
arghyadip
1000
2453
19
IM Aditya Mittal
Vinniethepooh
1000
2438
20
IM Sayantan Das
Ambitious
1000
2431
21
IM Neelash Saha
gamechanger
1000
2413
22
Chandrasish Majumdar
chandrasish96
1000
2106
23
Harish Kumar
harish_chess
1000
1567
24
Velavaa Ragavesh
Ragavesh
1000
1416
25
Dinesh
shauryaoman
1000
1316
26
Vivaan Verma
Vivaanverma
1000
1123
27
Haresh Kashyap
kashyapharesh
1000
1105
28
Haresh Jayanth
Haresh Jayanth
1000
1077
29
Srivishva Barath Ragavesh
Srivishva
1000
1003
30
Rahul Anil Bhagwat
MRAA
1000
0
31
Shaurya Divecha
Shaurya Divecha
600
0
32
E Agam Aditya
aagam aditya e
501
1707
33
Vivaan Vijay Saraogi
chess_cheiro
501
1519
34
Shikhar Karn
shikhar karn
501
0
35
GM Gukesh D
gk06
500
2563
36
GM Sundararajan Kidambi
Kidambi
500
2389
37
CM Shahil Dey
ShahilDey
500
2376
38
IM Moksh Doshi
Mokshu16
500
2332
39
FM Ajay Karthikeyan
skkeyan
500
2315
40
Aradhya Garg
Aradhya
500
2198
41
FM C J Arvind
JUNOSOURCE
500
2123
42
Swayangsu Satyakam
FUTGEN
500
2093
43
G Dinesh Kumar
gdbow
500
2046
44
Atul Dahale
incredible
500
2037
45
Ilamparthi A R
Ilamparthi
500
1989
46
Vansh Aggarwal
twobrothers
500
1922
47
Mahi Doshi
chess1311
500
1502
48
Jahnavi Sri Lalita Mareddy
mvsr12345
500
1387
49
Krishna RV
Krishna RV
500
1295
50
Agastya Dey
Agastya Dey
500
0
51
Rishila Banerjee
Rishila
500
0
52
L R Srihari
lsr
300
2414
53
Sai Manivannan N.R.
Saimanivannan
300
1926
54
Devarsh Borkhetariya M
Lightning McQueen
300
1482
55
Allen Jones
allenjones
300
1351
56
Virle Kimaya
KIMAYA_VIRLE#24
300
1349
57
Saparya Ghosh
dancingpawn
300
1196
58
Ashok Turkia
phe32
300
1176
59
Nidhish Govekar
Nidhish02
300
1069
60
Swayham P Das
swayham
251
1675
61
IM Pranesh M
pranimastermuni
201
2437
62
Arjun Gupta
Arjun Gupta
201
1932
63
Ankit Ray
shinchan2009
201
1661
64
Aditya Prasad
chessmonster
201
1620
65
CM Prraneeth Vuppala
Smart123
200
2253
66
Namitbir Singh Walia
Namitbir Singh
200
2093
67
Santu Mondal
dada1987
200
2081
68
Vinay R Jumani
Vinay12345
200
1754
69
Soumyajit Das
apply11
200
1683
70
Prakhar Bajaj
gaurav306
200
1663
71
WCM Shriyana S Mallya
sadhika
200
1277
72
Anmay V Chavan
200
1215
73
Sharadhi Shastry
chesschinnu
200
1123
74
Ajay Kumar
ajay022015
200
0
75
Jayant Rao Valluri
jayant23
200
0
76
K Chandra Sekhar
Chesslearner500
200
0
77
Thirumalaivasan K
VASU06
200
0
78
Samriddhaa Ghosh
Katoptris
150
1910
79
Amit Mishra
amitm55
150
0
80
Advait Ratnakar Vibhute
advait30
111
1472
81
Arnav Khandelwal
rockboss
110
1159
82
Naga Ram
Nagaram
102
0
83
FM Dushyant Sharma
Dushu2930
101
2270
84
Garv Gaur
garvgaur1008
101
2083
85
Kumar Gaurav
kumar2017
101
2036
86
Dinesh Rajan M
dinchamp
101
1912
87
Suryaraghava Inagandla
srchess29
101
1543
88
Vishal Kamat
ijarvish
101
1451
89
Jadav Alpesh Hasmukhlal
AlpeshJadav
101
1417
90
Swapneel Gupta
Masterblaster10
101
1337
91
Harsh Pandit
HarshPandit
101
1171
92
Shiva Gautam
dr_attack_6385
101
1142
93
Setu Minocha
setuminocha
101
1036
94
Karan Daryani
beardedking21
101
0
95
Kshitij Dutta
KDROCKS
101
0
96
Shreyan Mukherjee
shreyan2013
101
0
97
WFM Savitha Shri B
savithashri
100
2261
98
Sahil Tickoo
Thehope
100
2245
99
Rohit S
rohit2007
100
2189
100
Girish B Chandanani
100
2169
101
CM Bhavesh Mahajan
bhavesh1810
100
2047
102
Soham Bhattacharyya
ostad
100
2004
103
Praloy Sahoo
kingofblitz
100
1984
104
Aditya Bikram Paul
adityabikram
100
1964
105
Aditya Ramanathan
darkknight0405
100
1950
106
Alekhya Mukhopadhyay
GMAlekhya2007
100
1944
107
Sankalan Shah
Dragon_1234
100
1903
108
Ganeshbabu Gnanagurusamy
Adi2005
100
1896
109
Tejes S
T-Rex777
100
1893
110
Hari Surya Bharadwaj
Alekhine1
100
1882
111
Siddhant Gawai
DarkJoker
100
1840
112
Ansh Dhanvij
Dark Shadow
100
1773
113
Khush Wairagade
Roman Reigns
100
1720
114
Mansoor Taj Mohammed
Mansoortaj
100
1718
115
Ashwin Sairam
Ashwin23
100
1670
116
Gautam De
Edmatuag
100
1665
117
Satya Sekhar Mitra
Little Champs
100
1659
118
Shankhodip De
Young_Bronstein1573
100
1573
119
Sawyan Baran De
Mithun_1977
100
1523
120
Suhaas A
suhaas
100
1522
121
Shreshtha Surai
raisurai
100
1497
122
Adithya Vishveshwaran
Adithya Vish
100
1485
123
Abhinav Bhatt
Abhinav Bhatt
100
1483
124
Shresth Mahapatra
rise_like_messi
100
1481
125
Prathamesh Divekar
prathameshdivekar
100
1464
126
Kiran Vasishta TS
Kiran Vasishta
100
1427
127
Neev Patel
neevptl
100
1416
128
Amit Bhattrai
amitbhattrai
100
1398
129
Phadnis Pranav
Pranav1316
100
1386
130
Viraj Gogte
virgog
100
1337
131
Raja Sree Virinchi Vadali
virinchi
100
1331
132
Ramteke Sumedh
SR1211
100
1328
133
Anubhav Singhal
Parul1978
100
1319
134
Harinandha L
hari
100
1298
135
Padmaesh M K
Padmaesh M K
100
1293
136
Harshini A
Harshinianand
100
1265
137
Rudra Jaiswara
Mumma
100
1241
138
Pradeep Bajpai
Martian_Champ
100
1238
139
Ojash Jain
OJASHJAIN
100
1233
140
Devansh Chaudhury
dev11
100
1231
141
Shubham Sahasrabudhe
shubham001
100
1197
142
Sidharth Sreekumar
SidharthS
100
1194
143
Amogh Bisht
AmoghB
100
1193
144
Preet Mhatre
Magnus Carlsen
100
1175
145
Karthikeyan Panchapakesan
karthi37373
100
1172
146
Pradyumna Kanukollu
pradyumna_k
100
1138
147
Anoushka Bhatt
Anoushka Bhatt
100
1130
148
Alan K Thomas
Alan K Thomas
100
1120
149
Aditi P Iyer
Aditi Iyer
100
1098
150
Archit Saigal
architsaigal
100
1093
151
Shristi Chede
shristi chede
100
1084
152
Sanjay Pradnesh G
sragvidhanvi
100
1078
153
Sree Hari Nathan K S
sreeharia11
100
1069
154
Alind Khare
Alind
100
1061
155
Brij Nandan Singh
BRIJ1975
100
1054
156
Mohamed Rayhan S
smorayhan
100
1053
157
Venkatesh S
Quality_959
100
1036
158
Armaan Haider
ays020209
100
1027
159
Aarav Patel
patelaarav
100
0
160
Adipto Nath
Adipto Nath
100
0
161
Aneesh Adiga
Aneesh009
100
0
162
Arun Pratap Singh
Arun pratap singh
100
0
163
Dhandapani Kuppusamy
Dhandapanikuppusamy
100
0
164
Dushyant Singh
fauji_doctor
100
0
165
Harshit Vikram SB
Harshit2009
100
0
166
Indrajeet Tomar
Indrajeet4ever
100
0
167
Kadhir Suresh
BKGSUR
100
0
168
Kemee
Scientist_2025
100
0
169
Mayur Krishna Hazarika
partha sulabh hazarika
100
0
170
Namratha Rao
Namratha Rao
100
0
171
Narendra Singh
100
0
172
Neelam Kumari
scientific_outlook
100
0
173
Parth Goyal
Parthchesswinner
100
0
174
Pratham Aditya
100
0
175
Sadasiva Reddy Chirra
CSREDDY
100
0
176
Saksham Chede
saksham chede
100
0
177
Sansar Rana
scientific_attitude
100
0
178
Shaurya Pratap Singh
shash
100
0
179
Shivansh Bhatt
srbchess12
100
0
180
GM Vidit Gujrathi
evilgenius
2726
181
GM Sethuraman S P
Piscean
2644
182
GM Aryan Chopra
Aryan Chopra
2585
183
IM Shinya Kojima
imsknkgg
2392
184
GM Villamayor Bong
BongVillamayor
2375
185
IM Padmini Rout
Padmini
2370
186
IM Soumya Swaminathan
travellingknight
2351
187
WIM Divya Deshmukh
chessylife
2305
188
Chia Yu Zhe Ashton
AntiSocial
1812
152614
Donors who contributed and did not play the tournament:
GM
Krishnan Sasikiran
20000
GM
Harika Dronavalli
10000
GM
Arunprasad Subramanian
5000
GM
Thejkumar MS
5000
GM
Narayanan S L
1000
Abhinav
Kumar
100
GM
Sriram Jha
7000
IM
S Vijayalakshmi
WGM
S Meenakshi
GM
Deep Sengupta
1000
Maralakshikari
Sreeshwan
1000
Srinika
Guin
500
Vijayakumar
Reddy
1000
U B
Singh
1000
Shardul
Gagare
1001
Total
53601
Amount raised by GM Vidit Gujrathi through his livestream
Name
Amount
Vinith Chezhiyan
25000
Ashwin Subramanian
3000
Bidyut Bora
2500
Pathik Desai
1000
Pavan Srinivas
1000
Mayur Gondhalekar
690
Suman Chakrabarty
501
Aarun Sundaramoorthy
500
Shashank
500
Manigandan Kuppuswamy
400
Vinoth Kumar
300
Eeshwara Sai
231
Rishila Banerjee
200
Sagar
100
Arvind Ramnath
100
Sanskruti Sutar
100
Prashant Joshi
100
Aaryan Iyer
100
Aviral Shringi
100
Vignesh Sarkar
100
Mrinal Shah
100
Shubham Jagtap
100
Harish Kumar
80
Chesslovers4life
76
Munaqib Kosavi
50
Nupur Sancheti
40
Raj Programmer
40
Sumanth
20
37028
Total amount: Rs.2,43,243
Vidit Gujrathi's live stream raises Rs.37,028
For Vidit it was the first time he was streaming LIVE while playing blitz. What looked like a relaxed event at the start, soon started getting quite stressful as Vidit, playing with the nickname of Evilgenius, was paired against some really strong players like Nihal Sarin, Aryan Chopra, N. Srinath, D. Gukesh, Padmini Rout and others. But the India no.2 showed why he is one of the best players in the world. He scored 8.0/9, finished joint first (third on tiebreaks) and more importantly raised Rs.37,028 in under two hours!
Vidit's LIVE stream of 100 minutes. It gives you unique insight into the mind of a top player
Nihal Sarin grabs the tournament
Nihal Sarin made a last-minute entry into the tournament, but just like always does, he managed to play well under time pressure and come out on the top! Nihal scored 8.0/9 and was joined on the same score by GM Aravindh Chithambaram (hitter1999) as well as GM Vidit Gujrathi (Evilgenius), but finished first on tiebreak. The first important point in the event came for Nihal when he was paired against Vidit in round five. In the livestream Vidit said, "I will talk a little less now, as I am playing a very strong blitz player." And Vidit's focus began to show dividends as the Nashik lad was not just ahead on time, but also was completely winning. But what happened next shows why Nihal is an absolute blitz/bullet monster. While Vidit had close to 15 seconds and Nihal had around seven, the 15-year-old started playing so fast, that he was actually able to flag Vidit with still five seconds remaining on his clock!
That's the intensity with which the youngster plays chess! | Photo: Alina l'Ami
Next Nihal managed to get the better of GM Vishnu Prasanna (Fidodido) and in the seventh round he even beat Aravindh Chithambaram (Hitter1999).
Nihal vs Aravindh
Find a typical pawn sacrifice in this position which Nihal blitzed out. White to play.
Nihal found the powerful d5! exd5 e5! A typical pawn sacrifice in these Semi-Tarrasch structures. He managed to win the game in just 25 moves after Aravindh made a few errors.
With 7.0/7 it seemed as if Nihal was running away with the title. But it was Gukesh (Gk06) was stopped the dream run.
To stop one prodigy, you need another! Gukesh beat Nihal in the eighth round | Photo: Lennart Ootes
Gukesh had already lost round six to a blistering attack against Aravindh Chithambaram:
When it comes to online blitz, you can never discount Aravindh Chithambaram | Photo:Lennart Ootes
When the final round began, we had a four way tie at the top with 7.0/8. It was Gukesh, Nihal, Aravindh and Vidit all tied on the same score. Vidit and Gukesh were paired against each other. As Aravindh and Nihal had already played against each other, Aravindh was up against Vishnu Prasanna and Nihal was fighting it out against the talented youngster L.R. Srihari. Aravindh faced a tough time against Vishnu's piece sacrifice, but he beat back the attack and trapped his opponent's queen.
Nihal managed to positionally outplay his young opponent:
The game that caught everyone's attention was Gukesh against Vidit. Vidit built up a winning position after netting an exchange. However, very soon it seemed like Gukesh was trying to win on time just like Nihal had done against Vidit. The India no.2 was left with just 10 seconds when he very coolly found a mate in three.
Gukesh vs Vidit
Black to move and mate in three. Can you spot it?
The top three finishers of the exciting blitz event - Nihal Sarin, Aravindh Chithambaram and Vidit Gujrathi
Final standings of the event. For the entire list of standings, click here
Although there were no prizes, we did have a Magnus Carlsen signed DVD which goes to Nihal for his efforts.
Very soon Nihal will start playing Carlsen in over the board tournaments! Yet, this is a nice memorabilia to have!
We had Vishy Anand's My Career Vol.1+2 signed by Anand himself as a prize for the highest donor. Although Arjun Erigaisi and Vinith Chezhiyan both contributed Rs.25,000, we will be sending these DVDs to Vinith, who will benefit more out of learning from the DVD than Arjun.
A big thanks to the tournament director and the man who kept all the records of the donations flowing in - Shahid Ahmed. His efforts were instrumental in the successful organization of the event.
Total amount raised:
The total amount raised through the tournament is Rs.2,43,243. However, this is not the only amount that ChessBase India is raising at the moment. We also have live training sessions by IM Sagar Shah and FI Niklesh Jain for each day of the lockdown and together they have already raised Rs.74,179. The total amount that has been collected by ChessBase India including the live training sessions and online tournament is Rs.3,13,921.
