India clinch gold after dramatic Chess Olympiad 2020 finale, Russia declared joint-winners

In a dramatic finish at the 2020 Chess Olympiad, India have been crowned as joint gold medal winners along with Russia on Sunday. Taking the final to the very last breath, two Indian players were declared to have lost on time in the final round. However, both the players had faced a connectivity issue, as a result of an internet connection. Following the complaint lodged by the Indian side, the International Chess Federation declared India and Russia as joint winners of the gold. The federation has informed that it will release a statement pertaining to the matter soon. 

Owing to the pandemic, this was the first time in history that the Chess Olympiad was conducted virtually. Nihal Sarin and Divya Deshmukh lose connection with the server and lose on time, with the latter being in a more dominating position before the connectivity issue. However, the Indian contingent rushed to lodge an appeal after the loss. FIDE immediately informed that it would investigate the matter before announcing the result. After about an hour of the result, FIDE announced that FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich had made a decision to give gold medals of to both teams.

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The Indian contingent had faced a similar problem in the quarterfinal against Armenia. Armenian players had lodged an appeal saying they had lost internet connection but the appeal had been turned down. India then beat Poland in the semifinal to qualify for Sunday’s final. 

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Team India at Chess Olympiad 2020

The Indian squad at the Chess Olympiad 2020 included Vishwanathan Anand, Vidit Santosh Gujarati (captain), P. Harikrishna, Koneru Humpy, Dronavalli Harika, Bhakti Kulkarni, Nihal Sarin, Divya Deshmukh, R. PraggnanandhaVantika Agrawal, R. Vaishali and Arvindh Chithambaram. 

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