On the 30st of August, India was announced to be a joint gold medal winner at the International Chess Federation (FIDE) Online Chess Olympiad.
India won a joint gold medal after a tie with Russia.
With this, India is the winner of the World Chess Championship title.
The first match between India and Russia ended with a draw as both the teams scored 3-3 in the matches.
During the second match, Divya Deshmukh and Nihal Sareen, two players were intercepted by the internet connection and lost due to the time issue.
However, India appealed to reconsider as the time issue was due to disturbed internet server.
Later, after reviewing the matter and declared both the teams as winners.
The FIDE took to its official Twitter handle and announced, “FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich made a decision to give gold medals of FIDE Online #ChessOlympiad to both teams – India and Russia.”
Former Chess champion Viswanathan Anand, appreciated the decision of the FIDE Governing body and said, “You have to look at how the match was placed when the interruptions occurred. Nihal’s position had improved substantially, and Divya was almost winning or at least much better. FIDE took that into account before arriving at the decision which was fair to both teams.”
G.M. Koneru Humpy, Harika Dronavalli and Pentala Harikrishna were amongst who represented India in the championship.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi also took to Twitter and congratulated the team, “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.”
Amit Shah, the Home Minister of India, also said, “Proud moment for India! Congratulations to Team India on winning the FIDE online #ChessOlympiad. This has been possible because of the unparalleled commitment of our chess masters. I am sure this stellar achievement will further the spirit of our young players across the nation.”
Twitterati also congratulated the players of the Chess Olympiad 2020 for their win.
For the first time, the FIDE organised Chess Olympiad online due to the outbreak of the Novel Coronavirus or COVID-19.
Stay tuned for further updates.
