Prime Minister Narendra Modi took to Twitter to congratulate the Indian chess team after they were crowned joint champions of Online Chess Olympiad on Sunday alongside Russia. "Congratulations to our chess players for winning the FIDE Online #ChessOlympiad. Their hard work and dedication are admirable. Their success will surely motivate other chess players. I would like to congratulate the Russian team as well," PM Modi tweeted. India batting great Sachin Tendulkar also congratulated Viswanathan Anand and the whole Indian team for bringing laurels to the country.
"What a wonderful weekend this has been for Indian Sports. A day after we celebrated #NationalSportsDay, our Chess Team brings laurels by becoming joint champions. Congrats @vishy64theking & the entire team.#ChessOlympiad," Tendulkar tweeted.
"I congratulate our Indian contingent that won the Gold at the @FIDE_chess Online Chess Olympiad. India was declared the joint winner with Russia. My heartiest wishes to all players," Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju tweeted.
India and Russia were on Sunday declared joint winners of the 2020 Online Chess Olympiad after the final was marred by internet disconnection and server malfunction.
This was the first time FIDE, the international chess federation, was holding the Olympiad in an online format due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The first round of the final ended in a 3-3 draw with all the six games finishing in stalemate.
Russia won the second round 4.5-1.5 with wins for Andrey Esipenko over Sarin and Polina Shuvalova over Deshmukh, leading to a controversy as the Indians claimed the losses were due to connection issues.
(With PTI inputs)