Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India], Aug 24 (ANI): Fifteen-year-old R Praggnanandhaa has left his mark on the FIDE Online Chess Olympiad as he helped the Indian side defeat China in the final preliminary round.

Praggnanandhaa and Divya Deshmukh starred with crucial wins to help the Indian side defeat Chinese side 4-2 in the ninth and final preliminary round.

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As a result of this win, India has made it to the quarterfinals of the online event by topping pool A.

"I have been representing the Indian team and I am playing in junior code. We have qualified for quarter-finals by beating China. I am very happy about it and I am looking forward to the quarter-finals. My aim is to bring medals for India, the future aim is to improve my rating," R Praggnanandhaa told ANI.

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"I want to thank Nirmala Sitharaman ma'am for providing me sponsorship when I became a grandmaster. I improved a lot after that help, I felt very happy when she congratulated me on Twitter," he added.

Last year, R Praggnanandhaa had also won the gold in the under-18 open category in the World Youth Chess Championship.

He had scored an impressive and unbeaten 9/11 and he ended with a performance rating over 2700 in the World Youth Championship. (ANI)

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