India and Russia share chess gold medal after Internet fails

The gold medal for the 44th Chess Olympiad has been shared by India and Russia. The countries received joint-gold because of a glitch with the Internet. The Olympiad takes place every two years to find the best chess-playing nation in the world. This year it was held online for the first time. The online version of the competition was because of coronavirus. The final was between players from Russia and India. However, some games came to an end after two Indian players lost their Internet connection. Officials at the tournament said they had no choice but to award the gold medal to the two countries. They said this was fair because the Indian players lost time when the Internet connection failed.

This year's Chess Olympiad started in July. Teams from over 160 countries took part. The final round was not the only time teams had technical glitches. A player from Armenia was disconnected from the tournament's server during his quarter-final match against India. However, on that occasion, officials rejected his appeal. Armenia withdrew from the competition in protest. Officials said there were "unprecedented circumstances" in the final. They said: "The Online Chess Olympiad has been impacted by a global Internet outage that severely affected several countries, including India. Two of the Indian players were affected and lost connection when the outcome of the match was still unclear."