15 year old R Praggnanandhaa and Divya Deshmukh starred with crucial wins as India stunned China 4-2 in the ninth and final preliminary round to make the quarterfinals of the FIDE Online Chess Olympiad on Sunday. Rampant India dominated the third day at the FIDE Online Chess Olympiad beating pool favourites and second highest-rated team in the competition.
India claimed the top spot in Pool A with 17 points and 39.5 board points and became the first team to qualify for the quarter-finals. The Indian team, which finished at the top of Top Division Pool ”A”, will play the quarterfinals against a yet-to-be-decided opponent on August 28.
Four draws and two wins on Under-20 boards helped India pull off the victory against the Chinese.The 15-year-old Praggnanandhaa appeared to be on the ropes, but managed to turn the tables on Liu Yan and finished with a perfect 6/6 score.
Divya Deshmukh, a former world under-10 and 12 champion, put it across Jiner Zhu to underline her potential.
Vidit Gujrathi, the Indian captain, held world No.3 Ding Liren to a creditable draw on the top board while P Harikrishna also shared honours with Yangyi Yu.
Indian ace Koneru Humpy signed peace with the women”s world No.1 Yifan Hou as did D Harika against the current world champion Wenjun Ju.
India No.2 Harikrishna said he was delighted with the win over China and credited the youngsters — Praggnanandhaa and Divya.
The pool winner advances directly to the quarterfinals while the second third-placed team from each of the four pools move to the preliminary phase of the knockout.
Earlier in the seventh round, India posted a 4-2 win over Georgia with former world champ Viswanathan Anand being held to a draw by Levan Pantsulaia.
In the eighth round, India registered a comfortable 4.5-1.5 win over Germany with captain Vidit Gujrathi leading the way by beating Rasmus Svane.
The Indian youngsters, 15-year-old Praggnanandhaa and 14-year-old Deshmukh, showed a glimpse of their prodigal promise by coming out on top against GM Liu Yan and WGM Zhu Jiner, turning their tense ties into triumphs in round nine of the day.
Praggnanandhaa has been the star from India’s perspective, having won all of his five games so far, while Deshmukh has won four out of the five matches that she has participated in. If not for the internet lag that decided the outcome of her result on day one, she could have also maintained a 100 percent record.
