Chess India, Russia named joint winners of Chess Olympiad
New Delhi/UNI: India were announced joint gold medal winners of the FIDE Online Chess Olympiad after a dramatic and controversial finish to the final against Russia on Sunday.
Russia were initially declared winners after two Indian players, Nihal Sarin and Divya Deshmukh, lost out on time in the final after an apparent loss of internet connection for them.
After India lodged an official appeal against the controversial result, saying that their players lost internet connection due to a server failure, the decision was reversed.
FIDE, the international chess federation issued the statement and said that after investigating the whole issue, President Arkady Dvorkovich made a decision to give gold medals to both teams.
This was the first time FIDE was holding the Olympiad in an online format.
Earlier in the final, the first round between India and Russia ended in a 3-3 draw. The second round was level and the match was set for an exciting finish before Nihal and Divya were declared to have lost on time.
Indian PM Narendra Modi congratulated the players.
Congratulations to our chess players for winning the FIDE Online #ChessOlympiad. Their hard work and dedication are admirable. Their success will surely motivate other chess players. I would like to congratulate the Russian team as well.
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) August 30, 2020
India were represented by Vidit Gujrathi, former world champion Viswanathan Anand, Koneru Humpy, D Harika, R Praggnanandhaa, Pentala Harikrishna and Divya Deshmukh.
India had beaten Poland in the semi-finals to qualify for Sunday’s final.
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