GM Pranav Venkatesh wins 2025 World Junior Chess Championship

Grandmaster (GM) Pranav Venkatesh became the 7th Indian to win the World Junior Chess Championship. GM Pranav Venkatesh won the 2025 World Junior Chess Championship after his last match against FIDE Master Matic Lavrencic of Slovenia ended in a draw. He topped the points table with 9 points and won the 2025 World Junior Chess Championship title.

The 2025 World Junior Chess Championship was organised by the international chess governing body FIDE at Petrovac, Montenegro, from 26 February to 7 March 2025.

Around 260 male and female chess players from 67 countries participated in the Championship, which is played in the classical format.

Chess players aged below 20 years participate in the World Junior Chess Championship.

Pranav Venkatesh won the Open Section of the Championship 

Before the start of the 2025 World Junior Chess Championship, GM Pranav Venkatesh was ranked 140th in the world.

During the whole tournament, Pranav remained unbeaten. He won seven matches and drew 4.

He secured 9 out of a maximum 11 points to win the World Junior Chess Championship.

Fide Master (FM) M Lavrencic of Hungary and GM Elham Amar of Norway were tied at 8.5 points. To decide the second and third place, Lavrencic defeated Amar in a tie-break to secure the second place while Elham Amar was at the third place. 

Seventh Indian to win Junior Chess Championship 

Pranav, who achieved his GM status in August 2022, is the 75th Chess Grandmaster of India.

He is also the seventh Indian to win the World Junior Chess Championship.

The first Indian to win the title was the legendary Vishwanathan Anand in 2017. 

Pentala Harikrishan was the second Indian to win the title in 2004, followed by Abhijeet Gupta in 2008, Koneru Humpy in 2001, Harika Dronavalli in 2008, and Divya Deshmukh in 2024. 

Anna Shukhman won the Women's Title 

• Women's International Master (WIM) Anna Shukhman of Russia won the women's section of the 2025 World Junior Chess Championship. 
• Anna Shukhman was competing in the tournament under the FIDE flag as Russia has been banned by FIDE due to its invasion of Ukraine.
• Anna Shukam topped the points table with 9 points, winning her last five games in succession.
• WIM Ayan Allahverdiyeva of Azerbaijan and WIM Miaoyi Lu of China finished with 8/11 points. 
• However, Allahverdiyeva took the silver medal, beating Miaoyi Lu on tiebreaks. 

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