India and Russia share chess gold medal after Internet fails

The gold medal for the 44th Chess Olympiad has been shared by India and Russia. The countries received joint-gold because of a glitch with the Internet. The Olympiad takes place every two years to find the best chess-playing nation in the world. This year it was held online for the first time. The online version of the competition was because of coronavirus.

The final was between players from Russia and India. However, some games came to an end after two Indian players lost their Internet connection. Officials at the tournament said they had no choice but to award the gold medal to the two countries. They said this was fair because the Indian players lost time when the Internet connection failed.

This year's Chess Olympiad started in July. Teams from over 160 countries took part. The final round was not the only time teams had technical glitches. A player from Armenia was disconnected from the tournament's server during his quarter-final match against India. However, on that occasion, officials rejected his appeal. Armenia withdrew from the competition in protest.

Officials said there were "unprecedented circumstances" in the final. They said: "The Online Chess Olympiad has been impacted by a global Internet outage that severely affected several countries, including India. Two of the Indian players were affected and lost connection when the outcome of the match was still unclear."

Source: BreakingNewsEnglish

Comprehension

How many chess Olympiads have there been?
How often do Chess Olympiads take place?
How many times has the Olympiad been online before this one?
Why was this Olympiad held online?
What did tournament officials say Indian players had lost?
How many countries took part in the Olympiad?
Which other country has technical problems?
What kind of circumstances did officials talk about?
How many countries did officials say the Internet outage affected?
What did officials say about the outcome of the match?

Discussion

What do you think about what you read?
What do you think of when you hear the word 'medal'?
What do you know about chess?
What experiences do you have of playing chess?
What do you think of the idea of an Olympics for chess?
Have you ever won a gold medal?
When was the last time you experienced an Internet glitch?
What do you think of online chess?
In this case, should the final have been replayed?
How would you feel if you were one of the players?
What is your favorite board game? And what are the rules of that game?

Vocabulary

Olympiad - a celebration of the ancient or modern Olympic Games.
unprecedented - never done or known before.
outage - a period when a power supply or other service is not available or when equipment is closed down.
glitch - a sudden, usually temporary malfunction or irregularity of equipment.