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Chess wonder Arshiya wins PM Bal Purashkar

Another glittering feather was added to the crown of Chess prodigy of Tripura Arshiya Das as she has been chosen for this year's Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar (PMRBP) . Little chess star 10-year-old Arshiya is the first and only girl chess player from the northeast India who received an international gold medal and is also a national chess champion.  

Congratulating the little star, Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted, “Meet the young Arshiya Das, a 10-year-old chess master from Tripura. She has won an international gold medal and other laurels too. During lockdown, she took part in many online tournaments! Many congratulations to her for the Bal Puraskar”.

Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb also extended congrations to Arshiya and other youngsters who were conferred upon the prestigious Puraskar.

 
Every year, award giving ceremony held at Rastrapati Bhawan on the eve of Republic Day – however, this year, due to Corona Pandemic, the award conferring programme went online. During the online award conferring programme, Arshiya along with her father Purnendu Das, mother Arnisha Das and DM of West Shilesh Yadav were present.

According to Purnendu Das, Arshiya began playing chess at the age of five and won a gold medal in the Asian School Chess Championship at Uzbekistan in 2019.

Purnendu Das told IANS that his daughter also bagged gold medal in the National School Chess Championship at Raipur in Under-9 category while she is a two time bronze medal winner in the National Chess Championship in 2017 and 2019.

Arshiya has been awarded 'Best Player of the Year' in chess for four consecutive years by Tripura Sports Journalist Club from 2017 to 2020 and she is the youngest international rated player of the state with an ELO rating of 1053 in 2017.

Purnendu Das, a telecommunication engineer, said that during Covid-19 induced lockdown, she played around 500 tournaments organised by the International Chess Federation (FIDE), All India Chess Federation and many more club tournaments, all in online mode.

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