Pranav youngest Chess International Master from Karnataka

Pranav Anand - at 14 years, 3 months and 15 days - has become youngest International Master from Karnataka.

He scored his first IM-norm in Rilton Cup 2019, the second in Biel 2019 and the third and final norm in Aeroflot Open 2020.

While Pranav needed 19 points to qualify for the IM title, the pandemic forced him to stay out of competition from March 2020 which delayed attaining the IM title.

He scored 5.0/9 with a performance rating of 2478 and gained 40 Elo rating points in the process. He defeated two GMs Elina Danielian and Maxim Lugovskoy, drew with the following IMs - Platon Galperin, Pavel S Dvalishvili and Alexey Mokshanov in Aeroflot Open 2020 B Category.

When international travel restrictions were eased, Pranav flew to Serbia on February 8 this year. He collected the required number of points after beating GM Stefan Djuric in the third round of Radnickichess, GM round bobin tournament in Belgrade, Serbia.

“It was frustrating not to compete in tournaments and wait for almost a year to gain these last few points for the IM title. However, I prepared a schedule guided by my coaches that helped me stay focused and be ready to compete whenever we could travel for an event. I’m glad that my efforts paid off,” said Pranav.

Coached by L Seshadri from Mysore, Jayaram Ramanna from Chess Shoots Academy Bangalore, and IM Vishal Sareen from Delhi, Pranav has also worked with GM Konstantin Landa, GM Boris Avrukh and IM Raja Ravisekar.

The Bengaluru boy is currently trained by IM V Saravanan.

“More than anything, his level of passion for chess is amazing. I expected him to attain the IM title for a long time. He is definitely destined for more as he has the potential and capability to achieve GM title within a year’s time,” Saravanan said.