India, Russia declared joint champs post Internet row

Chennai, August 30

India and Russia were today declared joint winners of the 2020 Online Chess Olympiad as the final was marred by Internet disconnection and server malfunction. Initially, Russia were declared winners after two Indian players (Nihal Sarin and Divya Deshmukh) lost out on time in the final after suffering a disconnection with the server.

India lodged a protest against the controversial decision that was then reviewed and gold medals awarded to both teams.

This was the first time the FIDE, the international chess federation, was holding the Olympiad online, due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

In an official statement, FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich said the global Internet outage severely affected several countries, including India, so a decision was made only after a careful examination.

Legendary Indian chess player Viswanathan Anand shared his excitement by tweeting: “We are the champions!! Congrats Russia!”

Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju congratulated the Indian side. — PTI