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Nikhil Kamath, Indias youngest billionaire, cheated in a charity chess match. What else about his life story and wealth is built on lies?

In 2000, a 14-year-old Nikhil Kamath, the son of a bank manager and music teacher, dropped out of school and got a job.

In 2010, he co-founded Zerodha, a discount brokerage outfit. By 2019, with no external financing, Zeroda became the largest retail stock broker in India. Current daily turnover has reached $10 billion.

With such success comes fame. Nikhil made the Forbes 30 under 30. He won the Chivas 2017 Entrepreneur of the Year Award. He appeared in GQ India.

Various accounts of Nikhils youth tout his chess-playing and how the games mental discipline contributed to his success.

Five-time former world champion Viswanathan Anand agreed to an online charity chess match against several Indian celebrities, including Nikhil.

As is typical of such events, Anand played these opponents simultaneously.

Incredibly, Nikhil beat Anand, who resigned after 34 moves.

Computer analysis of Nikhils play calculated his efficiency at 98.9%. This means that 98.9% of Nikhils moves matched the top moves recommended by computer chess engines.

Some readers may recall North Korean news reports of leader Kim-Jong Uns sporting achievements. In his first round of golf, he reportedly scored 38 under par, including at least five holes-in-one. He also rolled a perfect 300 score his first time bowling.

Nikhils playing at 98.9% efficiency to beat a former World Champion represents a similar accomplishment. It is super-human.

Now for the kryptonite. Nikhils games on Chess.com show him playing at 0.6-10.9% efficiency. At least three chess novices wiped him out in anywhere from 4-12 moves.

Chess sites around the world had a field day. Check out here and here for starters. (Spoiler and nerd alert.)

Clearly, Nikhil did not play on his own, but used a computer chess engine to suggest his moves.

Theres nothing lower in the chess world than cheating by using an engine. Nikhil confessed. Chess.com blocked his account.

Blocking actually represents a mercy since it prevents people from analyzing his other games.

Whats odd here is how on earth Nikhil believed that he could get away with using an engine to beat a former world champion.

This begs two questions.

Nikhil constructed a legend for himself as a chess prodigy who turned to business only after his dreams of becoming a world-class player fell through. His mind sharpened and toughened by chesss intellectual demands, Nikhil went on to make a fortune in finance.

Journalists accepted this story at face value. They enthusiastically propagated it.

Yet, Nikhils online games show him getting hammered in short order by novices.

So, what other parts of Nikhils legend are BS?

Having lied repeatedly over the years about his chess abilities, Nikhil didnt want to be taken apart by Anand in a highly publicized event.

Still, Nikhil could have cheated enough to save face, though not by so much as to make his cheating obvious.

Which raises the second question. What other successes in Nikhils life stem from cheating?

Nikhil was willing to cheat to win a meaningless charity event. What would he do for a billion dollars?

Liberace

Globally humiliated, Nikhil the billionaire will, to quote pianist showman Liberace after receiving harsh reviews, laugh all the way to the bank.

Maybe Nikhil cant play chess. But hes definitely proven himself a world-class liar.

The real novices in this tale seem to be those of us in media, in business, and in society who bought into his legend.

Nikhil may or may not learn from his mistake.

Will we?

#therightwaytowin

Originally posted here:
Liars Chess: Unraveling The Legend Of Indias Slumdog Billionaire - Forbes

Chess is one sport that has checkmated the pandemic. In-person contests are still difficult but by moving online, chess has not only survived but thrived. There are around 100 online competitions every month in India and I am possibly being conservative here, said Dibyendu Barua, Indias second Grandmaster after Viswanathan Anand became the first.

GrandmastersIndia now has 67 and 20 Women Grandmasters--too join in such competitions, said Barua on Tuesday. Added to the thrill of playing without having to step out, there is the possibility of making a quick buck, said Barua. Most online chess competitions have games that last three to 10 minutes meaning you can finish a tournament in two hours, he said.

But while over-the-board contests have established supervision rules and the presence of arbiters in the tournament hall, how are participants monitored when they play remotely? Usually, open competitions are held on established chess platforms such as chess.com. These platforms have an expert team who fire up chess engines (softwares that analyse positions) and monitor moves, said Barua.

Also read | Zerodha co-founder beats Anand in charity game, then admits he cheated

Openings are usually not scrutinised because anyone who knows an opening will play the first 12-15 or 20 moves like any engine would recommend. It is the middle games that are scrutinised because that is where you need to apply your mind. That phase determines outcomes. The odd brilliant move is often ignored as it could be due to a stroke of luck. But when a player consistently moves pieces like they would be recommended by engines, they are tracked. An engine can in a minute scan all the possible moves and list the best three or four.

Once it is established the moves are too sophisticated for the players rating, the participant account is blocked and their result nullified, said Barua. Of course, the decision can be challenged but most people dont because they wont be able to explain how they consistently played, say, 50 moves with such accuracy.

When amateurs are using, say, Stockfish (a popular engine), it is easy to track them. But sometimes in open tournaments, help from coaches and parents too are sought and then it gets difficult to detect. Also, when established players cheat, they will often not take the best option recommended by the engine and may then get the benefit of the doubt, said Barua.

Also read | Zerodhas Kamath admits to cheating after beating Anand in charity chess

When national and international tournaments are held online, players are instructed to install cameras in the room which need to be turned on when they are playing. No other device that can access the internet is allowed in the room, said Barua. At the highest level, they may even be asked to share their screens.

On Monday, Telanganas G Keerthi and Riya Mishra of Uttar Pradesh, who had finished first and second respectively in the national under-18 rapid online tournament, were found to have used unfair means by a fairplay committee comprising three GMs and two International Masters. Two other participants in the junior womens competition too were barred on Saturday.

After it was found that he had violated its the Fair Play policy while playing Anand in an online event, chess.com shut the account of businessman Nikhil Kamat. Kamat had got Anand to resign in a simultaneous event and later tweeted that he had sought expert advice.

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Not perfect, but cheating can be tracked in online chess meets: GM Barua - Hindustan Times

Chess.com and The Charlotte Chess Center are proud to announce the Blitzcoin Invitational! In this new action-packed event, the best US Chess players 25 years old and under will compete for their share of one Bitcoin.

The event will run from October 27 through 31, with the first match happening on October 27, 6 p.m. PT/October 28, 03:00 CEST. Fans will get to enjoy the best young players in the United States battling against each other in a series of fast-paced blitz or bullet matches.F25

One of the most important chess clubs in the United States, the award-winning Charlotte Chess Center is well-known for holding norm tournaments. With this event, the club is once more asserting their importance in the chess landscape by bringing together the strongest young talents in the country.

Among the confirmed participants is the speed-demon GM Daniel Naroditsky, a Charlotte resident himself. With a lot of experience in fast time controls, Naroditsky is sure to leave both his opponents and his fans baffled by his impressive speed.

Don't forget to tune in to Chess.com/TV to watch the event with commentary by Charlotte Chess Center Founder and CEO FM Peter Giannatos and other guests! We will also broadcast the event on our Twitch and YouTube channels, so don't miss it!

Are you excited to see the young talents of the United States playing some high stakes blitz? Let us know in the comments below!

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Chess.com And The Charlotte Chess Center Present: The Blitzcoin Invitational - Chess.com

Black and white piecesfly across a checkered landscape as the clock ticks ominously.His brain is racing and his heart is pumping. Each breath is quick and shallow as his eyes scan the board.

It's been more than three hours andWilliam Morrison is one game away from achievinginternationalchess master status.

A crowd of whispering spectators has gathered around him, watching his every move. It's rare to see an African American who has advanced to the upper echelons of the chess elite, especially ina sport traditionally dominated by Russians, Ukranians, Chineseand Israelis.

Morrison watches his opponent with a hawkish gaze and scrawls ona pad containing an ever-growing jumble of letters and numbers,arunning list of every move made in the game.

Another hour goes by, chess pieces shuffle, and Morrison pounds the clock one last time.

"Checkmate."

Morrison breathes a sigh of relief as he stands up and shakes his opponent's hand amid cheers. After nineexhausting games over the course of fivedays, Morrison beat all the expert-level players at the World Open in Philadelphia.

While Morrison grew up playing chess on the benches of New York City's Washington Square Park, his mother was born and raised in North Carolina.

For a while, she dated NFL Philadelphia Eagles playerRussel E. Murphy, who coached football in Asheboro, Burlington, and other parts of the Piedmont region for decades. Murphy was also known for being the strongest man in the world in his age and weight class.

Coach Murphy died of cancer in 2005, but his legacy of empowerment in the historically black East Asheboro community remains strong.

On a field dedicated to Coach Murphy, football players and cheerleaders host their practices over the summer. Children in East Asheboro also get coached for the SATs as part of Coach Murphy Camps, a nonprofit dedicated in his honor.

Now, thos students will get the chance to play chess with internationally ranked chess master William Morrison.

Read more:Murphy Football Camp: It was something special

Willie Gladden, a friend of Morrison's mother and organizer at Coach Murphy Camps, convinced Morrison to attend achess challenge spanning two days in June. The first one will be a qualifying event, where kids of all ages can play each otherand get some practice. It will take place Thursday at6 p.m. atthe Public Works Building in Asheboro. The top 20 contestants will end up playing Morrison at theChessMaster Event onFriday at 8 p.m. in the same location.

Morrison will play 20 separate games at once, going from board to board across the room as fast as he can.It may seem impossible to keep track of that many games, but for Morrison and many other top chess players, the moves on a chessboard are like second nature.

However, reaching that point took blood, sweat, and tears. Well, more like books, sweat, and tears.

When he was a kid, the hardest part about moving place to place was lugging his boxes of chess books. Hestudied everything he could get his hands on. Morrison recalls pawing through more than500books about chess over the course of his adolescence.

His regular vernacular includes phrases like Sicilian Defence, Fianchetto and Ruy Lopez. Chess players are historians of sorts, tracing the steps of other players from centuries ago. In the cardinal game that made Morrison a chess master, his opponent opened with theSicilian Defence, which was first scrawled onto a manuscript by an Italian chess player in 1594.

William's father taught him chess when he was only 6 years old, and Morrison was competing in tournaments by the time he finished elementary school. At the time, Morrison points out, chess wasn't a big part of black culture. Even today, there are only about50 black chess masters in the United States.

One of the reasons is pretty simple: Chess tournaments are expensive. Paying for flights, hotels, and fees for competitions can quickly add up, especially for a young chess player with limited means. Morrison had the opportunity to play in Canada and Europe, but he remembers the big financial burden of traveling. He tried to stay as local as possible and compete in as many competitions in New York as he could.

On his website,The Chess Drum, chess player and journalist Daaim Shabazz points out that people of African descent are often questioned for their intelligence. He once was asked by a Latin American whether Africans were intelligent enough to be grandmasters.

Shabazz suggests that more black mentors, black role models,and black tournament organizers could change the racial landscape of chess. He harks back to the legendary Black Bear School of Chess, a network of black chess players who gathered in Brooklyn for chess rumbles.

Despite Shabazz's concerns, Morrison is optimistic about a shift he observed in the chess world in the past few years.

Morrison noticed a huge push to teach chess in schools all over the country.In his hometown of New York City, a program calledChess in the Schoolshas taught half a million students in 48 schools.

Morrison, once known as "The Exterminator" to other chess players, now teaches children how to playchess in Baltimore. There are 65 schools in Baltimore that participate in chess programs, many of which arein the inner city and reaching minority populations, Morrison notes. The Baltimore Kids' Chess League boasts that 800 students from 40 Baltimore City Public Schools annually participate in their programs.

In Asheboro, there is an active chess group with approximately 450 followers on its Facebook page. Besides inspiring kids in East Asheboro, Morrison also hopes to scout some chess players who show potential.

There are only three black Grandmasters in chess, one from Brooklyn, another from Sweden, and another from Zambia. Perhaps Morrison might find the next one might in Asheboro.

Thank you for subscribing to The Courier-Tribune. Stay tuned by subscribing to our newsletter and downloading our mobile app.

Michelle Shen is an Economic and Data Reporter for The Courier Tribune. Feel free to reach out to her with story tips on Twitter (michelle_shen10), Instagram (pretty_photos_by_michelle OR michelle_shen10), or email (mshen@gannett.com).

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An international chess champion is coming to Asheboro, and kids can play against him - Asheboro Courier Tribune

When Jim Walsh supplied The Irish Times with daily coverage of the Fischer-Spassky world chess championship of 1972, one of the results was that his wife Maureen was able to buy a pair of fancy new curtains. Another is that he talked the newspaper into running a daily chess problem from then on, rather than the weekly column he had contributed since 1955.

Exactly 15,000 problems later, there is no sign of the curtains closing on an epic career that has already broken world records. In 2016, he became the longest-running chess columnist ever, anywhere, his 61 years and six months eclipsing the previous best: by Hermann Helms of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, whose stint began in 1893 and ended as Walsh was making his debut.

With 66 years to his credit now, the man Myles na gCopaleen used to call our resident pawnbroker has no plans for retirement. His next major milestone touch wood may be in March 2022, when he turns 90.

The past year has not been without challenges. In January 2020, he needed an operation on a hernia. The wound became infected and it was dangerous time to be in hospital, with rumours abounding of a strange new virus. The Irish Times had to re-run old chess problems for a few weeks, causing concern among Walshs aficionados.

But he survived that with only one longer-term inconvenience. His daily newspaper delivery used to be thrown classic style into the doorway, or thereabouts. This suddenly presented a challenge he could no longer pick it up. A quiet word was had with the deliverer. The paper is now placed carefully in the letterbox.

A sadder effect of the pandemic is that it may have finished off the annual reunions of his Belvedere College Class of 1950. A dozen or so survivors met as recently as 2019, when one classmate congratulated Jim on being the only one still in active employment. If the lunch ever happens again, he suspects he wont be able to go.

There was a good side to the crisis too. For those in lockdown, chess columns and other indoor entertainments became more important than ever. PJ McGarry spoke for many when, in a letter on this page in May, he thanked Walsh for supplying players with a daily fix at a time when all the clubs were closed.

The compliment was deeply appreciated by the man himself, although he also gets a stream of letters addressed personally and, even when these are critical (as they can be), always responds.

In one way, the pandemic brought him back to the start of his chess-playing life. As a schoolboy in Belvedere, he was a promising rugby player a hooker until the great public health scourge of the time ended that. A TB hip kept him at home for three years, during which his mother introduced him to chess.

It was a blessing in disguise, really, he says of the TB now. A natural at his new game, he was soon representing Ireland in chess Olympiads, including one where he faced World Champion Mikhail Botvinnik of the USSR, who beat him as expected, but only after several hours and having paid him the compliment of sitting down throughout (the good players often get up and walk around between moves, but he was very respectful to a young player well below his level).

He also played the aforementioned Myles, aka Brian ONolan, when the latter visited his house circa 1949. That was less a challenge. Despite Myless public pretensions, he was no grandmaster and his concentration that night was somewhat the worse for whiskey.

Along with a career, chess introduced Jim Walsh to his wife, Maureen Kennedy. A player herself, she became his advisor and critic (She could be blunt, but she was a great help). They were just short of 40 years married when she died in 2009: I still miss her badly.

Chess has consoled his later years as it enlivened his earlier ones. It has given me a great life, he says. His days are strictly regimented now. Up at 7.30am to check that the column has appeared, without glitches, he then polishes off the Simplex Crossword and Sudoko before breakfast (muesli, toast, and half a grapefruit).

He does his writing and research in the mornings when Im at my best. He has an armchair nap in the afternoon, then watches TV before an early bedtime. A carer makes lunch and helps with other things, including shopping. He also gets the London Times daily, in which he always does the code words puzzle. The daily brain exercises have stood to him at 89.

Mentally, he sums up, I feel as sharp as ever.

See the article here:
15,000 and counting our record-breaking chess correspondent passes another major milestone - The Irish Times