Winning Chess Olympiad gold a magical moment for Team India: Former World Champion Viswanathan Anand

India and Russia were on Sunday declared joint gold medal winners of the Chess Olympiad after the final was marred by internet disconnection and server malfunctions, but former World Champion Viswanathan Anand and his team said that the internet issue was not India’s fault.

Speaking at a press interaction, Viswanathan Anand said, “We did nothing wrong, the internet issue was not India’s fault. Our team had done everything correctly and we were ready for any decision from FIDE.

If FIDE would have asked us to play more games we would have played more games. But, obviously FIDE has to look at the big picture and they took a decision. I do not know how they reached that decision but we did what we had to.”

The second round was provisionally awarded to Russia with a score line of 4.5-1.5 and eventually the match went in their favour, but India appealed to the review committee regarding the issue of internet disconnection.

FIDE upholds India’s appeal

The review committee eventually upheld India’s appeal and FIDE then declared India and Russia as the joint winners.

Describing the win and the tournament, Anand said, “The tournament went like a dream for me. A special gold for me. A special moment for youngsters. Winning the gold is simply a magical moment. I hope this will be the start of many things for India.”

India’s previous best result was a bronze medal in the men’s event of the 2014 edition.

Calling it a ‘very special win’, Anand hoped that this medal will also bring honours to the chess players around the country.

“I hope this result will have a positive impact and they [the government] will look at chess the way they did years ago.

“Several years ago, they had recognised that this is one of the sports where we do incredibly well. I hope we will once again start coming in for Arjuna and Dronacharya awards,” he added.

Another key member of India’s win, Koneru Humpy, described the win as a ‘golden moment’ for Indian chess.

“Really a special and golden moment for Indian chess. Talented youngsters like Nihal Sarin, R Praggnanandhaa, Vantika..did well. Great teamwork did it for us. We had an advantage of having a mixed team,” Koneru Humpy said.