Chess players in the country, including the likes of Grandmaster P Harikrishna, are doing their bit in the fight against the Covid-19 by raising more than Rs 3 lakh as their contribution.
Some young chess players from across the country hosted an online tournament and raised Rs 1.05 lakh while noted coach R B Ramesh collected funds through his 'Chess Gurukul' with GM P Harikrishna contributing Rs 2 lakh and Karthikeyan Murali donating Rs 25,000.
One GM, seven International Masters, many national chess champions and enthusiasts came together and hosted an online tournament under the aegis of "The Chesster group" on Tuesday, a press release said.
The tournament, hosted on www.Lichess.org, saw enthusiastic response from chess players from cities like Mumbai, Noida, Nagpur, Hyderabad. Donations also came in from the Immortal Chess Forum, the release said.
Over 80 chess players and enthusiasts contributed Rs 1.05 lakh to be donated to the PM Cares Fund.
Sixteen-year-old Vedant Panesar, Adarsh Tripathi and Yash Srivastava, who conceived the idea, said through the initiative they wanted "contribute in a small way to the cause."
Ramesh said "once we are able to get a good amount, we want charitable organisations with free passes from the government to take this forward and help the needy. I request the chess community to come forward and donate liberally to the cause in your own way."