Pranav & Shukhman win World Junior Championships 2025
GM Pranav Venkatesh (India) & WIM Anna Shukhman (FIDE) emerged World Junior Champions 2025 at Petrovac, Montenegro. Both logged an impressive 9.0 points from eleven rounds taking the deserving Gold medal. At 8.5 points apiece, FM Lavrencic Matic (Slovenia) took the silver in the Open section with superior tie-break, while GM Amar Elham (Norway) got the bronze.
In the Girls section, the Gold medal went to WIM Shukhman Anna (FIDE) with 9.0 points. Following the Champion Shukhman at 8.0 points were Silver and Bronze medallists WIM Allahverdiyeva Ayan (Azerbaijan) and IM Lu Miaoyi (China) respectively.
The 62nd FIDE World Junior Chess Championship Open and the 41st FIDE World Junior Chess Championship for Girls was held from 25th February to 7th March 2025 at Hotel Palas, Petrovac, Montenegro under the auspices of Montenegro Chess Federation & FIDE.
Second seed GM Pranav Venkatesh (2615) went through the eleven rounds remaining undefeated. He scored seven wins and drew four games with a tournament performance of ELO 2721. His went through a tough time against top seed GM Daniel Dardha of Belgium in the 8th round. But Pranav hung on gamely in a difficult position and snatched a crucial draw that kept him ahead in the race. An important win against fellow Indian International Master Aswath S (2470) in the ninth round saw Pranav coasting to the title with two further draws.
During December 2024 Pranav won the World Under-18 Rapid & Blitz titles at the World Youth Chess Championship held in Slovenia. Now the World Junior Champion title will be icing in the cake for the Indian. Also, the Friday 7th March, 2025 turned out to be a triple treat for Indian chess fraternity as GM Aravindh Chithambaram won Prague Masters and GM Erigaisi Arjun won his second Freestyle Friday in a row joining GM Pranav Venkatesh in the party.
GM Pranav Venkatesh joins the illustrious list of former world junior champions viz., Boris Spassky, Anatoly Karpov, Gary Kasparov, Viswanathan Anand, Artur Yusupov, Alexander Beliavsky, Levon Aronian, Pentala Harikrishna among others.
For fifth seed WGM Shukhman Anna (2365) it was a memorable finish that saw her taking the gold. An early defeat in the third round to WIM Allahverdiyeva Ayan of Azerbaijan put spokes on her progress. But five wins in a row from rounds 7 to 11 saw Shukhman taking the Gold ahead of the rest. Eight wins, two draws and a loss summed up the Champion’s ELO 2488 performance. By gaining 30 ELOs Shukhman now moves into the fourth spot in the world top junior girls rating list.
The Open section saw 157 entries from 58 countries including 12 Grandmasters and 17 International Masters among 100 titled players. The Girls section saw the participation of 98 players from 49 countries including 7 Woman Grandmasters and 2 International Masters among 65 titled holders.
Pranav Venkatesh (2615) – Ohanyan Emin (2501) 1. d4 d5 2. Bg5 c6 3. e3 Qb6 4. b3 Bf5 5. Nf3 e6 6. Bd3 Bb4+ 7. c3 Be7 8. Bxf5 exf5 9. Bxe7 Nxe7 10. O-O Nd7 11. c4 O-O 12. Nc3 Nf6 13. Rc1 Ne4 14. Ne5 Rad8 15. Nd3 Rfe8 16. Ne2 a5 17. Qc2 g6 18. c5 Qc7 19. Rb1 Ra8 20. a4 Reb8 21. b4 b5 22. f3 Nf6 23. axb5 cxb5 24. bxa5 Nc6 25. Nc3 b4 26. Na4 Rxa5 27. Nb6 Ra3 28. Qd2 b3 29. Nb4 f4 30. Qb2 Ra7 31. N6xd5 Nxd5 32. Nxd5 Qd8 33. Nxf4 Ra2 34. Qc3 g5 35. Nh5 Rc2 36. Qd3 Ra8 37. Kh1 Raa2 38. Rg1 Qa5 39. Nf6+ Kg7 40. Qxh7+ Kxf6 41. Qh6+ Ke7 42. Qd6+ Ke8 43. Qxc6+ Kf8 44. Qh6+ Ke8 45. Rxb3 1-0
Final Placings (Open): 1. Pranav Venkatesh (Ind) 9.0, 2-3 Lavrencic Matic (Slo), Amar Elham (Nor) 8.5, 4-7 Tarhan Adar (Tur), Galaviz Medina Sion Radamantys (Mex), Grebnev Aleksey (FIDE), Xiao Tong (Qd) (Chn) 8.0, 8-10 Costa Leonardo (Ger), Dardha Daniel (Bel), Chinguun Sumiya (Mgl) 7.5 pts
Final Placings (Girls): 1. Anna Shukman (FIDE) 9.0, 2-3 Allahverdiyeva Ayan (Aze), Lu Miaoyi (Chn) 8.0, 4-10 Nurman Alua (Kaz), Yakimova Mariya, Zhurova Anna, Karmanova Olga Dm (all FIDE), Khamdamova Afruza (Uzb), Song Yuxin (Chn), Mungunzul Bat-Erdene (Mgl) 7.5 pts
Complete Results: https://chess-results.com/tnr1103593.aspx?lan=1&art=1&rd=11&fed=IND&turdet=YES&flag=30
Photo Courtesy: Mitar Djukanovic at https://www.fide.com/
