Chess
'Meticulous in his work' – Viswanathan Anand lauds junior world champion Pranav V
Pranav V ended India's 17-year wait for a junior chess world champion.
Pranav V with his Junior World C'ship trophy (Photo credit: GM_Pranav_V/Twitter)
The five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand heaped praise on the newly crowned chess junior world champion Pranav Venkatesh on Friday.
Pranav, 18, dominated the 2025 World Junior C'ships in Montenegro, finishing unbeaten in the 11-round competition.
"Congratulations to the junior world champion Pranav Venkatesh," tweeted Anand. "He has been in great form lately.
"Our WACA chess 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 Junior World Championships," he added.
Pranav, who started playing chess at the age of six, became India's 75th Grandmaster back in 2022. He has since displayed steady growth and now holds the junior world titles in all three formats – Rapid, Blitz, and Classical.
Pranav's title win in Montenegro ended India's 17-year wait to have a junior chess world champion in the open section.
Anand was the first to win the prestigious title back in 1987. Pentala Harikrishna (2004) and Abhijeet Gupta (2008) repeated the heroics.
India's IM Divya Deshmukh was crowned the women's junior world champion last year.
