World Junior Chess Championship: India's Pranav Venkatesh reigns supreme

New Delhi: India's Pranav Venkatesh won the World Junior Chess Championship (Under-20) after settling for a draw against Matic Levrencic of Slovenia in the 11th and final round in Petrovac, Montenegroon on Friday.

It turned out to be a great day for Indian chess after Aravindh Chithamabaram won the Prague Masters ahead of many fancied stars.

Venkatesh, who had won the challengers section in the Chennai International last year, continued his great show among juniors in the world, remaining undefeated during the course of the event.

The Indian scored a total of seven victories and four draws to end up on nine points out of a possible 11 and when the final round pairings were announced it was clear that a draw will be enough for Venkatesh.

Levrencic opted for the Sicilian defense with black but the game went in to unchartered territory as Venkatesh sacrificed a pawn early to get some lead in development.

There were reasons to be worried for the Slovenian and he just decided to play it safe and agreed for a draw in mere 18 moves and will likely win either silver or gold medal.

Venkatesh's success was already writing on the wall, given his past few performances and especially after he was picked up for the Westbridge Anand Chess Academy where the students are mentored and handpicked by Viswanathan Anand himself.

Interestingly, Anand had himself made a mark on the world stage by winning the World Junior Championship back in 1987. Thereafter, P Harikrishna won in 2004 and Abhijeet Gupta had followed suit in 2008.

It has nearly been a 17-year-old wait for the open title to come back to India.

More recently, Divya Deshmukh had won the girls' section when it was held in Ahmedabad in 2024.

Before Divya, D Harika had won in 2008 and Koneru Humpy in 2001.

The great Anand lauded Venkatesh for his remarkable achievement.

"Congratulations to the World Junior Champion Pranav Venkatesh.He has been in great form lately. Our @WacaChess mentee. He is very meticulous in his work and constantly analyses his own games, comes back with suggestions and takes feedback. You join a very prestigious line of World Junior Champions!," Anand wrote on his 'X' account.