Pranav Venkatesh becomes World Junior Chess Champion

After Gukesh, India has another 18-year-old world champion on the 64 squares: grandmaster Pranav Venkatesh became the World Junior Chess Champion 2025 in the open section in Petrovac, Montenegro on Friday. Pranav beat a field of 157 players (including 12 grandmasters) from 63 countries in the open section to claim the trophy.
Pranav’s crowning moment came with a draw against Matic Lavrencic which saw him end the event with a score of 9/11 points.
Just like illustrious predecessors Gukesh and Praggnanadhaa, Pranav is a product of the famed Vellamal Institute and is a fellow at the Westbridge Anand Chess Academy (WACA), pioneered five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand.
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Viswanathan Anand on Pranav
“I thought he was just gifted. You could see it in his games and also a couple of people I consult pointed this out to me so that was useful confirmation,” Anand told The Indian Express on Friday while explaining why he had handpicked Pranav for the WACA program.
“I’ve had multiple interactions over the years with Pranav Venkatesh and one thing which stood out was his resourcefulness. He’s very tenacious, he’s able to find hidden resources in difficult positions as well and that makes him a very tough player to play against. Particularly in the European Club Cup two years ago, we all realized how difficult it was to put him away and his team success I think definitely owed the fact that he converted some really horrible positions.”
Pranav has had significant results in his fledgling career already, winning the Challengers event at the Chennai Grand Masters event in November 2024 in a field that had players of the calibre of Harika Dronavalli, Vaishali Rameshbabu, Raunak Sadhwani, Leon Luke Mendonca and Karthikeyan Murali. He, in fact, defeated Harika, Vaishali, and Karthikeyan.
In December last year, he had claimed double golds in the Under-18 category at the World Youth Rapid and Blitz Chess Championship, held in Terme Catez, Slovenia. He also defeated Magnus Carlsen in a Titled Tuesday game two years back, which made waves in chess circles.

Amit Kamath is Assant Editor at The Indian Express and is based in Mumbai. … Read More