Akshay Malhotra Plays 150 Games for Haiti Relief
February 12, 2010
ashkay.jpgAfter watching Haiti's devastations on TV and reading on CLO about top players raising funds for Haiti, 11-year-old Akshay Malhotra, 3-time Texas State Grade Champion talked to his school board in Dallas, Texas. He offered his services to play chess simuls with all comers in order to raise funds for Haiti relief.

Akshay played a series of 25-board simuls, everyday from January 27 through February 3, 2010. He got a great response for the effort. He was covered in the Coppell, Texas newspaper for this event and raised more than $300 for the Red Cross Haiti’s Relief Fund by playing 150 games with a score of 150 - 0.

On asking why he set the donations to just $1 minimum for each game, Akshay replied that his goal was not only to raise funds for Haiti’s Relief but also to create awareness to as many people as possible to come forward and join in for this cause. And he felt he was successful in doing just that.

Akshay’s Background
·         3 Times Texas State Chess Champion (in 4th/5th/6th grades)
·         Currently in Top 100 List in U11 ( ranked 2nd in USA at age 9)
·         US Open Chess Tournament Winner in U1800 – July 2008
·         Texas Region III Elementary Chess Champion – Jan 2008
·         DFW Elementary Chess Champion – Jan 2008
·         Youngest Sponsor in 30-year history of deepalaya.org, one of the largest NGO and charity organization in the world by sponsoring unprivileged children for their entire educational and health care requirements by own won prize money from the chess tournaments.

Read more about how chessplayers helped raise money for Haiti in CLO stories about FM Mike Klein's exhibition , Expert Luke Harmon-Vellotti's exhibition, The Chess Without Borders Fundraiser and Daaim Shabazz's call for help. Daaim has also posted information on a fundraising effort for Sabine Bonnet and will contribute an upcoming article about the crisis and how it relates to the chess community in Chess Life Magazine.