Your trusted source

Members of the Armenian national chess team have strongly criticized FIDE after the controversial final of the Online Chess Olympiad, which saw two winners.

India and Russia have been declared joint winners of the chess tournament after two Indian players lost their internet connection during the final round, BBC News said.

An online version of the Chess Olympiad contest is being held for the first time this year because of coronavirus.

India appealed after two of its players lost connection to their games and forfeited on time.

Officials said these were "unprecedented circumstances".

Armenia's chess team withdrew from the competition following rejection of its appeal over Haik Martirosyan losing a game due to internet disconnection.

When the score was 2,5-2,5, GM Haik Martirosyan lost connection with official platform of the tournament chess.com and lost the game on time. The situation was draw. Also Haik Martirosyan did not disconnect from Zoom video call.

The Armenian team believed that the decision is highly unfair and they can’t play in this kind of competition and boycotted the second match as gesture of protest against the groundless decision.

“They [FIDE] really think that they are the cleverest, smartest and the rest just idiots??? SHAME on FIDE and their crappy and smelly work. They should resign after all what happened!!! It’s a big shame for entire chess!!!” GM Elina Danielyan said on Twitter.

“What a shame...Arkady Dvorkovich and Emil Sutovsky you failed... And you showed the whole chess world that you don't have moral principles,” GM Gabriel Sargissian said on Facebook.

Arkady Dvorkovich is FIDE President, while Emil Sutovsky is Director-General of the organization.

Russian chess grandmaster Ian Nepomniachtchi also commented on the FIDE’s decision to declare two winners of the tournament.

“In general, the Olympic Games, including the Chess Olympiad, are aimed at uniting different cultures and countries. So this situation is not a pleasant one. The problem with the online tournament is the possible connection losses. Of course, this causes controversy. It seems to me that after a similar incident with the Armenian national team, when Armenia's appeal was rejected, a precedent was created and it would have been logical to make a decision based on it,” championat.com quoted him as saying.

“It is ironic that India was on opposite sides of the barricade, but both times a decision was made in its favor. It’s true, the boys are disappointed. It seems to me that this is a bit against the principle of sports. India did not win a single game in the final. If we try to put ourselves in the place of FIDE, unfortunately, this is not the first case during the online Olympiad. And a compromised decision had to be made. In other words, as a neutral fan, I can fully understand the decision and maybe partly accept it, but as a participating athlete, I had mixed feelings,” the GM added.