Bengaluru: Pranav Venkatesh was just five and a half when he first spotted a cool chess set. While visiting a relative in Chennai, he came across a chessboard filled with animal-shaped pieces. He watched his dad, Venkatesh, lose to his eight-year-old cousin in a few games.

When they got back home, Pranav kept pestering his dad for a similar chess set. They searched high and low but had no luck, so they ended up getting a standard one instead. Venkatesh then showed Pranav how the pieces moved. “I was really intrigued by how the knight moves,” Pranav recalls. “I loved the game because of the strategy involved, and my passion for chess just kept growing.”

Fast forward to now, and the 18-year-old from Chennai has just been named the world junior chess champion in Petrovac, a seaside town in Montenegro. He’s a bit sleep-deprived but over the moon about his long flight back home.

“I’ve got a world title now,” Pranav tells HT, sounding pretty confident, and then he starts thinking about the future. “Hopefully, this will lead to more tournament invites. I’m aiming to play in the World Cup in India this year. Plus, reaching a 2700 Elo rating and qualifying for the World Championship cycle are definitely on my list.”

But there’s a small hiccup: sponsorship.

Venkatesh, who works in IT, has faced financial hurdles while trying to support his son’s chess ambitions. “I used to take Pranav to tournaments around Chennai on my bike. It got a bit risky since he would sometimes doze off from exhaustion, so I bought a car. But that turned out to be a burden, so we had to sell it,” Venkatesh shares with HT.

He thinks there have been some “miracles” along the journey, especially with timely support. “Microsense came through for us when we really needed it. When Pranav was on his way to Serbia for his GM title, Chessbase India helped us out with the Sadhana App. Recently, we’ve been using the prize money he earns from tournaments to fund his training. It’s quite costly to keep improving as a chess player, so having a sponsor would make a huge difference.”

Pranav, who trains at the Westbridge Anand Chess Academy under five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand, started working with GM Shyam Sundar early last year. Shyam describes Pranav as “dynamic, tricky, resourceful, and great at calculations.” “His ability to spot tactics quickly is probably his biggest asset,” Shyam tells HT. “In the last few months, his positional play has improved a lot, his openings are solid, and he’s gradually becoming a well-rounded player tactically. He’s always ready for a fight and aims for a win. He excels in faster time controls, but it can be challenging to adapt to longer formats. Initially, it was tough, but I wanted him to keep his edge in rapid and blitz since it’s unique for a player to shine in all formats.”

Since they teamed up, Pranav has clinched several titles, including the Dubai Police Open and Chennai Grand Masters Challengers. For the world junior, Shyam notes they concentrated on surprising openings, which really paid off.

“Once I get into a position, I just love to sit down and calculate. I managed to do that really well at the world junior and made very few mistakes,” Pranav shares.

Pranav is a big fan of Virat Kohli and Travis Head, and he really enjoys playing cricket. Evening turf cricket sessions have become a staple at Shyam’s chess training camps.

“Before we even started working together, Pranav would make the trek for over an hour from his home in Porur to my academy in Kolathur just to play cricket. Aravindh (Chithambaram) did the same. My academy has a bunch of International Masters and a couple of Grandmasters, and the competition can get pretty intense, so they don’t always chat much. Cricket has been a great way to break that barrier.

“For quite a while, Pranav and some of the other players have been itching to play on a larger field instead of just turf. You can really let loose there. Once Pranav is back, we might just do that. It could be a fun way to celebrate his victory!”

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