Pranav hopes to reach 2700 Elo, play the World Cup and Candidates in 2025

V. Pranav, the newly-crowned World junior chess champion, said on Monday that he had a “different experience” playing the Under-20 championship at Petrovac (Montenegro).

“I was playing a classical tournament after a long time with players of the same age. I’ve been playing a lot of Opens recently. So, after a long time, I wasn’t sure how I would play with them. It was a very different experience for me.

“I can see that I avoided some mistakes I had made in the previous tournaments. That helped me a lot. I could see the difference in the games.

“For instance, in the Qatar Masters Open, I wasn’t converting winning positions. Here, when I was in better positions, I took extra time to calculate well,” he said over a phone call.

Despite knowing that a draw would be enough in the “mentally difficult” last game (11th round), he chose to play a complicated variation, which he thought reflects his fighting spirit and style.

“I knew that a draw would be enough. Since it was a World title, I was a bit nervous. I could’ve played a simple game, but I chose a very complicated variation. The game had only 18 moves, but it was very complicated. I had to calculate and play accurately. If I wanted a draw and played accordingly, it wouldn’t have been my style. Maybe, it would’ve backfired.”

Speaking about the special appreciation he received from Indian chess legend Viswanathan Anand, he said: “He said that he also had a similar scenario (of needing only a draw) in the last game when he won the World Juniors (in 1987)!”

The 18-year-old, who hopes to play the World Cup and the Candidates, said he aims to reach 2700 Elo (current Elo 2615) this year.

“Usually, people who win the World juniors get a World Cup spot. And this year’s World Cup is happening in India. Also, if you win the World juniors, you get invited to a lot of closed tournaments. Hopefully, I will be able to perform well in such tournaments. I will try to reach 2700 (Elo) by this year.

“Also, I want to qualify for the World cycle. Either through the World Cup or some other way, I somehow want to get to the Candidates,” he said.