President Ram Nath Kovind lauds Team India's 'stellar performance' in Chess Olympiad

President Ram Nath Kovind on August 30 took to his Twitter handle to congratulate the Indian team for winning the gold medal in the 2020 FIDE Online Chess Olympiad. President Kovind in his congratulatory message said that India is delighted by the "stellar performance" of the Indian team, that was declared the joint winner along with Russia on Sunday. The president also congratulated the Russian team for winning the gold medal. 

Earlier, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah applauded the Indian contingent for bringing laurels to the country. 

Read: PM Modi Congratulates Team India On Chess Olympiad Victory: 'Will Motivate Other Players'

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. Praggnanandha, Vantika Agrawal, R. Vaishali, and Arvind Chithambaram. 

Read: 'Big Moment For Indian Chess': Viswanathan Anand Delighted Post Chess Olympiad 2020 Win

In the first round, all games ended in a draw, but it was actually a narrow escape by Russia as India was clearly winning the match. The second round started with important changes in both teams: India threw Anand into the battle, Vidit moved to board two replacing Harikrishna, and Nihal Sarin replaced Praggnanandhaa. On the Russian side, Dubov, Goryachkina and Esipenko replaced Artemiev, Lagno, and Sarana, respectively.

The Indian team was pressing for a match win against Russia in the finals when due to a technical glitch, two of its players, Nihal Sarin and Divya Deshmukh, lost connection and the matches ended abruptly. Russia was initially declared the winner but after India formally lodged a complaint and informed the international chess body about the glitches its players faced along with several other users, FIDE declared both the countries as joint winners. India won the competition for the first time and Russia for the first time since 2002. 

Read: India Clinch Gold After Dramatic Chess Olympiad 2020 Finale, Russia Declared Joint-winners

FIDE on glitch

"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. 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," FIDE said in a statement. 

(Image Credit: PTI)

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