In a dramatic development, India and Russia were declared as joint winners of the 2020 Online Chess Olympiad on Sunday.

Earlier, things went against India when the final was marred by internet disconnection and server failure.

Russia was initially declared the winner after two Indian players – Nihal Sarin and Divya Deshmukh – had to face defeat after losing out on time due to technical issues.

Utterly disappointed by the turn of events, India at once lodged a complaint against the decision of FIDE – the international chess federation.

Fortunately, the federation reviewed its decision and eventually declared both the countries as winners.

FIDE later tweeted, "FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich made a decision to give gold medals of FIDE Online #ChessOlympiad to both teams – India and Russia."

PM Modi also congratulated the winners on his Twitter handle. He tweeted, "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."

It must be mentioned that FIDE was holding the championship virtually for the first time due to COVID-19.