NEW DELHI: India’s Pranav Venkatesh clinched the World Junior Chess Championship (Beneath-20) following a draw in opposition to Slovenia’s Matic Levrencic within the closing spherical at Petrovac, Montenegro on Friday.
The day proved distinctive for Indian chess as Aravindh Chithamabaram secured victory on the Prague Masters, surpassing a number of favoured opponents.
Venkatesh, recent from his victory within the challengers part on the Chennai Worldwide final 12 months, maintained his spectacular kind amongst junior gamers globally, finishing the match with no single defeat.
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With seven victories and 4 attracts, he amassed 9 factors from a potential 11. The ultimate spherical pairings indicated {that a} draw would suffice for Venkatesh to safe the championship.
Enjoying with black items, Levrencic selected the Sicilian defence, however the sport took an sudden flip when Venkatesh sacrificed a pawn early to realize developmental benefit.
Going through a difficult place, the Slovenian opted for a cautious strategy, agreeing to a draw after simply 18 strikes, positioning himself for both silver or gold medal.
Viswanathan Anand expressed his appreciation for Venkatesh’s excellent achievement.
“Congratulations to the World Junior Champion Pranav Venkatesh.He has been in nice kind currently. Our @WacaChess mentee. He’s very meticulous in his work and continuously analyses his personal video games, comes again with options and takes suggestions. You be part of a really prestigious line of World Junior Champions!,” Anand wrote on his ‘X’ account.
Anand himself secured the World Junior Championship in 1987, adopted by P Harikrishna in 2004 and Abhijeet Gupta in 2008. The open title returns to India after a spot of practically 17 years.
