Russia, India declared co-champions of first-ever FIDE online Chess Olympiad after internet outage | Chess News

New Delhi: India and Russia on Sunday (August 30, 2020) became the co-champions of the first-ever FIDE online Chess Olympiad after the game was halted due to the internet outage, said International Chess Federation (FIDE).

FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich said in an official statement, “The Online Chess Olympiad has been impacted by a global internet outage, that severely affected several countries, including India. Two of the Indian players have been affected and lost connection when the outcome of the match was still unclear.”

He added, “The Appeals Committee has examined all the evidence provided by Chess.com, as well as information gathered from other sources about this internet outage. After being informed of their considerations and in absence of a unanimous decision, and taken into account these unprecedented circumstances, as FIDE President I made the decision to award Gold Medals to both teams.”

India’s chess legend Viswanathan Anand congratulated the team and said, “We are the champions!! Congrats Russia!”

We are the champions !! Congrats Russia!

— Viswanathan Anand (@vishy64theking) August 30, 2020

India’s Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman also extended her wishes. 

Congratulations India and Congratulations Russia  #Chess #IndianChess https://t.co/Fq6qRwv2ml

— Nirmala Sitharaman (@nsitharaman) August 30, 2020

Earlier in the game, the second round of Chess Olympiad final match, the Indian players Nihal Sarin and Divya Deshmukh lost connection to their games and forfeited on time.