On Sunday, the finale of the Chess Olympiad was held, watched by thousands in different parts of the world. However, the exciting match came to an abrupt end after at least two players lost connection and lost out on time.
Indian chess players, Vidit Gujrathi, former world champion Viswanathan Anand, Koneru Humpy, D Harika, R Praggnanandhaa, Pentala Harikrishna and Divya Deshmukh were playing against Russia.
This is not the first technical issue that has happened during the online Olympiad.
While the glitches seem to have cost them the title, India has made an appeal seeking that the issues be taken into consideration and that they be given another opportunity. Run on the Chess.com server, the Olympiad saw participation from over 150 teams from across the world.
The first match had ended on a 3-3 draw, and in the second bout, several matches were still underway when the glitch happened.
Reportedly, Nihal Sarin and Divya Deshmukh had lost out on time, and it is not clear if Koneru Humpy had also faced technical issues that led to her loss. Deshmukh incidentally had been in a position to win before the glitch.
Some say that a Google Cloudflare outrage has led to the glitches that have affected Chess.com, and many in India remain hopeful for a rematch.
Following the issue, Emil Sutovsky, Grandmaster, Director-General of International Chess Federation (FIDE) said that he is looking into the same. In a follow-up tweet he said that Team India's appeal will be reviewed shortly. FIDE President A. Dvorkovich will sit out as he represents Russia.
Following the appeal, India and Russia were declared the joint winners of the First online Chess Olympiad.
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