India and Russia on August 30, 2020 were declared joint winners of the 2020 Online FIDE Chess Olympiad after the final was marred by internet disconnection.
- 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 had appealed against the controversial decision.
- However, the international chess federation Fide’s president Arkady Dvorkovich decided to award the gold medal to both the teams.
- This was the first time Fide was holding the Olympiad in an online format.
- India had reached the finals of the FIDE Chess Olympiad for the first time.
- As many as 163 countries took part in the tournament in which India started as the seventh seed. Top seed Russia started as the favourite.
(Source: AIR and The Hindu)
