By Venkatachari Jagannathan
Power cut resulting disruption in internet connectivity forced two top Indian players losing on time against Mongolian players in the FIDE Online Chess Olympiad.
“In the crucial moments of Mongolia- India, in a won game, there was a power failure in my area costing us the match. Same happened in Humpy’s game. It’s a pity to lose due to issues which are out of our control. Nevertheless, we are going to give our best in the remaining games,” Indian team Captain Grandmaster Vidit Santosh Gujrathi tweeted.
“PS: BSNL was down since morning but luckily thanks to a backup ISP, I was able to play the games. Special thanks to @Longterm_wealth & Lightyears broadband for arranging that just a day before the Olympiad,” Gujrathi added.
However, Gujrathi was silent on the power back-up systems that he has at his home to meet such an emergency situation, when it is well known that the game will be of very short duration and the moves have to be played fast.
World number two in the woman’s category GM K. Humpy told IANS: “I had all the backup.”
Humpy who lives in Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh said though she reconnected with a dongle, the Zoom call window reopened and didn’t get the time to go to www.chess.com window to make a move.
“We have asked Vidit and Humpy whether they would be willing to play in a five star hotel in their cities? We have also asked the same to all the players,” Bharat Singh Chauhan, Secretary, All India Chess Federation (AICF) told IANS.
“Vidit said after Sunday’s game there will be a three days gap before the next round. At that time gap he would visit the hotel and take a look and decide,” Chauhan added.
As regards Humpy he said she is a bit reluctant to do that due to Covid-19 pandemic fear as she has a small child.
Both the Indian players were enjoying a positional advantage when misfortune struck.
It is learnt, a request for continuation of the two games from the same position and time was not agreed by the opposite team.
The one simple question that begs an answer is why the AICF top brass did not do a checklist on the kind of computers, internet connection, backup for power as well as internet connectivity the players representing the country have and suggest corrective action.
It is learnt Humpy’s internet connection was not connected to the power backup system and when the power supply got cut, the internet connectivity too snapped.
India drew its match against Mongolia 3-3 and is in the second spot in the Pool A trailing China.
Indian players are confident of qualifying for the next stage of the Olympiad even though they have to play three more rounds on Sunday.
–IANS
