Yuzvendra Chahal to face Viswanathan Anand in fundraiser Chess match; 'Checkmate COVID'

In a pursuit to raise funds for COVID-19 relief, Team India's leg spinner Yuzvendra Chahal will take on India's Chess Grandmaster and five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand in an exhibition match on Sunday. Yuzvendra Chahal confirmed this on Instagram after he shared his better-half Dhanashree's Instagram story that the leg-spinner will be facing the former world number 1 Chess player in a friendly match. 

Yuzvendra Chahal and others to face Viswanathan Anand in an exhibition match

Team India's leg spinner Yuzvendra Chahal's love for Chess is known all over the world. In fact, the 30-year-old leg-spinner has represented India in Chess at the World Youth Chess Championship. Even cricket experts often outline the impact of Chess on Yuzvendra Chahal's bowling as the leg-spinner often tries to outsmart his opponents. Yuzvendra Chahal will be taking on Viswanathan Anand in an exhibition match of Chess to raise COVID-19 relief funds.

Viswanathan Anand on Saturday took to his Twitter handle shared his video and revealed that he will be playing the match against Chahal and other Bollywood celebrities. Apart from Yuzvendra Chahal, celebrities like Ritiesh Deshmukh, Aamir Khan, Arijit Singh, Ananya Birla, and Manu Kumar Jain will also face the former Chess champion. The match will be live-streamed on the YouTube channel 'chess.com India'. 

Viswanathan Anand's career

Viswanathan Anand's career saw a meteoric rise as he took the Indian domestic chess scene by storm in the 1980s. In just a span of 8 years, Vishy went from being relatively unknown to becoming India's first Grandmaster in 1988. A five-time world chess champion, Anand became the fourth player in history to pass the 2800 Elo mark on the FIDE rating list. He was also the first person to receive the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award - India's highest sporting honour - in 1991–92. In 2007, he was awarded India's second-highest civilian award, the Padma Vibhushan, making him the first sportsperson to receive the award.

Yuzvendra Chahal in BCCI's 20-man India 'Team B' For Sri Lanka

Meanwhile, Yuzvendra Chahal is bracing for the Sri Lanka challenge as the leg-spinner is part of the  20-man jumbo squad for the limited-overs series against the island nation. BCCI on Thursday, As speculated before, the board has confirmed that Shikhar Dhawan will be leading the side against Sri Lanka whereas Bhuvaneshwar Kumar will be his deputy. Ishan Kishan and Sanju Samson have been picked as wicket-keeper batsmen as Rishabh Pant and Wriddhiman Saha will be busy with the Test series against England. 

(Image Credits: PTI)