Breaking News English

India and Russia share chess gold medal after Internet fails

Chess - Level 0

The gold medal for a chess tournament went to India and Russia. This year's tournament was online for the first time because of coronavirus. Games in the final ended when players lost their Internet connection. Officials said they gave the gold medal to the two countries because that was fair.

The competition had teams from over 160 countries. A player from Armenia had a technical problem. Officials rejected his appeal so Armenia went home in protest. Officials said a, "global Internet outage severely affected" two of the Indian players in the final. This happened, "when the outcome of the match was still unclear".

SPEED READING

Speed 1    |     Speed 2    |     Speed 3

MORE

11 online activities    |    8-page printable   (PDF)

Chess - Level 1

The gold medal for the 44th Chess Olympiad went to India and Russia. The Olympiad happens every two years. This year was online for the first time because of coronavirus. Some games in the final came to an end when two Indian players lost their Internet connection. Officials said they had to award the gold medal to the two countries because it was fair. The Indian players lost time when their Internet connection failed.

This year's competition had teams from over 160 countries. The final was the second time teams had problems. A player from Armenia was disconnected during a match. Officials rejected his appeal so Armenia went home in protest. Officials said there were "unprecedented circumstances" in the final. They said a, "global Internet outage severely affected" two of the Indian players in the final. They added that the lost connection happened, "when the outcome of the match was still unclear".

SPEED READING

Speed 1    |     Speed 2    |     Speed 3

MORE

11 online activities    |    8-page printable   (PDF)

Chess - Level 2

Slowest

The gold medal for the 44th Chess Olympiad went to India and Russia. This happened because of an Internet glitch. The Olympiad happens every two years to find the best chess-playing nation in the world. This year it was online for the first time because of coronavirus. Some games in the final came to an end after two Indian players lost their Internet connection. Officials at the tournament said they had to award the gold medal to the two countries because it was fair. The Indian players lost time when their Internet connection failed.

This year's Chess Olympiad had teams from over 160 countries take part. The final was the second time teams had technical problems. A player from Armenia was disconnected during a quarter-final match. Officials rejected his appeal for more time so Armenia withdrew from the competition in protest. Officials said there were "unprecedented circumstances" in the final. They said a, "global Internet outage severely affected" two of the Indian players in the final. They added that the lost connection happened, "when the outcome of the match was still unclear".

SPEED READING

Speed 1    |     Speed 2    |     Speed 3

MORE

11 online activities    |    8-page printable   (PDF)

Chess - Level 3

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."

SPEED READING

Speed 1    |     Speed 2    |     Speed 3

MORE

25 online activities    |    27-page printable    |    2-page mini-lesson