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Anand after Online Chess Olympiad title: We are the champions
Updated On: 31 August, 2020 06:54 AM IST | Chennai | PTI
Viswananthan Anand ecstatic as international chess federation declares India and Russia joint winners of Online Chess Olympiad after server failure
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India's Viswanathan Anand, Koneru Humpy and R Praggnanandhaa. Pic/Twitter
India and Russia were on Sunday declared joint winners of the 2020 Online Chess Olympiad after the final was marred by internet disconnection and server malfunction. Russia were initially 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 which was reviewed. This was the first time FIDE, the international chess federation, was holding the Olympiad in an online format, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In an official statement, FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich said the the global internet outage severely affected several countries, including India so a decision was made only after carefully examination.
"Two of the Indian players have been affected and lost connection, when the outcome of the match was still unclear. 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 an unanimous decision, and taken into account these unprecedented circumstances, as FIDE President I made the decision to award Gold Medals to both teams," Dvorkovich said. Legendary Indian chess player Viswananthan Anand shared his excitement by tweeting, "We are the champions !! Congrats Russia!," the wrote on his twitter handle after the final." The first round of the final ended in a 3-3 draw with all the six games finishing in stalemate. Russia won the second round 4.5-1.5 with wins for Andrey Esipenko over Sarin and Polina Shuvalova over Deshmukh, leading to a controversy as the Indians claimed the losses were due to connection issues. In the second round, Anand, coming in for P Harikrishna, had drawn with Ian Nepomniachtchi while captain Vidit Gujrathi drew with Daniil Dubov.
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