More than 160 countries have been competing in this year’s tournament.
India and Russia have been declared joint winners of a major international chess tournament after two Indian players lost their internet connection during the final round.
An online version of the Chess Olympiad contest takes place for the first time this year due to the coronavirus.
India appealed after two of its players lost connection with their games and wasted time.
Officials said it was “unprecedented circumstances.”
“The Online Chess Olympiad has been hit by a global internet outage, which severely affected several countries including India. Two of the Indian players were affected and lost connection, when the match result was not yet sure, “Arkady Dvorkovich, president of the International Chess Federation, said in a statement.
He said he decided to award gold medals to both teams in the “absence of a unanimous decision” from the agency’s appeals committee.
Teams from more than 160 countries have participated in this year’s online event, which began in July.
But the final is not the first time the tournament has come under scrutiny.
Armenia said on Friday that one of its players was disconnected from the server during their quarter-final match against India and lost in time. Her appeal was rejected and the country withdrew from the competition in protest.
The 44th Chess Olympiad was scheduled for this month in Russia, but was postponed until next year due to the pandemic.
