 Pranav in 2022 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | (2006-10-13)13 October 2006 (age 19) Bengaluru, Karnataka, India |
| Chess career | |
| Country | India |
| Title | Grandmaster (2022)[1] |
| FIDE rating | 2641 (November 2025) |
| Peak rating | 2641 (October 2025) |
| Ranking | No. 83 (November 2025) |
| Peak ranking | No. 83 (October 2025) |
Pranav Venkatesh (born 13 October 2006), nicknamed asBuddy Pranav,[2] is an Indianchess grandmaster and the 2025World Junior Chess Champion.[3]
Pranav began playing chess at the age of 6, and had several coaches including Visweswaran Kameswaran. He obtained his first two GM norms at the Serbia Open in 2021 and in the Vezerkepzo GM tournament inBudapest,Hungary in June 2022.[4]
In August 2022, Pranav obtained his final norm by winning the Limpedea Open inBaia Mare,Romania championship, becoming the 75th grandmaster from India and the 27th grandmaster from the state ofTamil Nadu.[5]
In October 2022, he played for India in the World U-16 Youth Olympiad (alongsidePranesh M, Harshad S, Rohit S, Mrittika Mallick, and Boramanikar Tanisha S), alongside competing in theMagnus Carlsen Academy Challenge, winning both events.[6] He later won chess24's Challengers Chess Tour by defeatingRaunak Sadhwani in the final round.[7]
In October 2023, he competed in the 38th edition of theEuropean Chess Club Cup with Offerspill Sjakklub. Led by the world no.1 Magnus Carlsen, Offerspill Sjakklubb triumphed, after scoring a decisive last-round victory against Asnieres – Le Grand Echiquier (France).[8] Pranav's overall performance of 5/7, including victories againstJorden van Foreest andGrigoriy Oparin in the last two rounds, earned him a tweet from Magnus Carlsen - "Pranav is buddy and buddy is Pranav".[9]
In January 2024, Pranav competed in the fifth edition of the Puzzles World Championships, hosted by chess.com, finishing 4th place overall. However, he produced the strongest resistance to eventual (5-time) winnerRay Robson, achieving a score of 3-5 sets with an aggregate puzzle score of 416-430.[10]
In November 2024, Pranav won the Challengers section ofChennai Grand Masters and qualified to compete in main section of the event in 2025.[11]
Pranav won two golds in the Under-18 Open Rapid, scoring 9.5/11, and Under-18 Open Blitz, scoring 19.5/22, section at the FIDE World Youth Rapid and Blitz Championship held in hotel Terme Čatež,Brežice, Slovenia from 13 to 17 December 2024.[12] Only the Dutch IMEline Roebers and one other player could win a blitz game against Pranav.
Pranav won theWorld Junior Chess Championship held atPetrovac, Budva inMontenegro on 7 March 2025 with a score of 9/11.[13] He became the fourth Indian to win the World Junior title afterViswanathan Anand in 1987,Pentala Harikrishna in 2004, andAbhijeet Gupta in 2008.
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