Unacademy Conducts Its First-Ever Virtual Chess Tournament
An intense tournament, this was one of the many things that celebrates the spirit and talent of Unacademians
It’s a known fact that working from home can be heavier on some more than the other. And so, Unacademy is taking all measures to keep employees engaged and motivated. So what do you think we do to spark up our evenings? Well, we do what we do best — go virtual. And this time, we conducted our first-ever virtual chess tournament — The Unacademy Chess League.
Few games scream ‘Unacademy’ as chess does. After all, as India’s largest e-learning platform, it should not come as a surprise that we have a large number of chess masters working with us. The tournament kicked off with a total of 60 contenders participating in the league, including six players from Codechef and three from Wifistudy. The tournament was a ‘survival of the fittest’ kind of battleground which was dominated by 20 players who made it to the semis. The air was tense as these 20 champions racked their brains, struggling to push their opponents out. By the end of the semi finals, Venkatesh Deore (Product Team, Unacademy) and Ravikant (Product Team, Codechef) managed to stand their ground, and had it to the final showdown on Wednesday. Close on their heels were Srinidhi (Product Team, Unacademy) and Trijeet (Product Team, Codechef).
The tournament spanned for about a week, with the grand finale on July 22. It was an intense affair. Venkatesh won the first round, having deciphered Ravi’s game strategy. The virtual audience thought that this would be a straight-forward victory — perhaps Venkatesh would win the next round too. However, Ravi grabbed a similar opportunity and cornered Venkatesh in the next round! Pandemonium broke loose over Zoom with Unacademy and Codechef cheering for their respective contenders.
At the end of a nail-biting match, Venkatesh Deore emerged as the reigning champion amidst much virtual cheering by his supporters. “I used to play when I was in school, but I had left it because of studies. The interest in chess came back because of the lockdown”, said Venkatesh, who also gave a shout out to Trijeet, who he pointed out had defeated both him, and Ravikant in previous rounds. A sporty Ravikant took his defeat in admirable stride, saying he hoped for more chess tournaments in the future.
The winners were in for what would perhaps be one of the most pleasant surprises of their lives — certificates signed by none other than the Grandmaster of chess, Vishwanathan Anand himself, along with special collectible chess boards made just for them! Anup (CEO, Codechef) congratulated our champions on their victory.
Although Codechef joined the Unacademy Group recently, the compassion between the employees of the two companies made it look like they’ve known each other for a long time! We at Unacademy want to express our gratitude to Anup, to the vigilant moderators and to everyone who participated and attended the matches, making it a huge success.
This was yet another feather in the cap for Unacademy’s attempts at building a virtual community. With an ever-growing team in a now-virtual world, bringing everyone together and ensuring their happiness is our vision. While games such as football and cricket were the most-awaited events in the pre-pandemic situation, this chess tournament was no less in terms of energy and excitement. Were we anxious about it working out? Definitely. But the kind of response we received from Codechef, Wifistudy as well as Unacademy, makes us believe that we can do just as great a job today at keeping our folks happy. Here’s to more such fun activities that make up Life at Unacademy!
