Pranav beats Pichot, achieves 2843 TPR
The first edition of the Fujairah Global Chess Championship came to an end on Monday, marking a promising addition to the calendar of strong open tournaments in the United Arab Emirates. Alongside established events in Sharjah, Abu Dhabi and Qatar, the new festival in Fujairah offered attractive playing conditions, and a lineup that drew ambitious GMs from around the world. The Superstars tournament concluded with a clear winner: 18-year-old Pranav Venkatesh from Bengaluru, the reigning world junior champion.
Pranav produced a remarkable performance across the nine rounds. Starting as the 23rd seed in a 44-player field, he found himself in the lower half of the rankings on day one, paired against top seed Nihal Sarin. The youngster struck immediately, scoring an upset victory over his compatriot. Consecutive wins gave him a perfect start, and he stayed among the leaders through the middle rounds.
The eventual champion’s key moment came in round seven, when he defeated Amin Tabatabaei to take sole first place. A draw with black against Abhimanyu Mishra in round eight meant he entered the final day with a half-point lead over Tabatabaei and Brandon Jacobson.
In the ninth round, Pranav faced Spain’s Alan Pichot with white. A draw would have sufficed to secure at least shared first place, but instead he pressed on and clinched a 54-move victory, finishing on 7/9 and a full point clear of the field.
In this insightful video course, Grandmaster David Navara shares practical advice on when to calculate deeply in a position — and just as importantly, when not to.
Free sample video: Introduction
Free sample video: Invisible moves
His final tally gave him a 2843 performance rating and a gain of 28.2 Elo points. This result has elevated him to eighth place in the live rankings of junior players (under-20), underlining the growing strength of India’s young generation.
Pranav Venkatesh playing 1.e4 against Alan Pichot | Photo: Anna Shtourman
Pranav’s victory in Fujairah adds to a growing record of international achievements. He first came to wider attention at the 2023 European Chess Club Cup, where he played for Offerspill alongside Magnus Carlsen and scored crucial back-to-back wins against Jorden van Foreest and Grigoriy Oparin in the final rounds. The performance earned him praise from Carlsen, who shared a memorable post on social media.
Pranav is buddy and buddy is Pranav.
— Magnus Carlsen (@MagnusCarlsen) October 7, 2023
Since then, he has won the Challengers section at the 2024 Chennai Masters and triumphed at the 2025 World Junior Championship in Petrovac with a commanding 9/11 score. His victory in Fujairah, against a field of experienced and higher-rated grandmasters, represents another major step in his rapid rise.
A post-mortem session with the tournament winner alongside commentators Angelika Valkova and Viorel Iordachescu | Photo: Anna Shtournamne
While Pranav’s win on the top board settled the title race, the battles immediately below ended peacefully, as Jacobson drew with Nihal Sarin and Tabatabaei split the point with Alexander Donchenko. On board five, however, Mexican grandmaster José Martínez scored a valuable win over 2018 US champion Sam Shankland with the black pieces.
This victory allowed Martínez, a player known for his online-chess skills, to join Jacobson and Tabatabaei in shared second place, all finishing on 6/9.
The top boards during Monday’s final round | Photo: Anna Shtourman
Another highlight of the final day came from board seven, where Zhu Jiner, the lowest seed and only female player in the Superstars tournament, defeated Bulgarian grandmaster Ivan Cheparinov. Having lost to Nihal in round eight, Zhu bounced back convincingly to finish with 5½ points and a performance rating of 2702.
Zhu’s result was all the more impressive given her starting position in the field, and it also had a significant impact on the women’s ranking list. Zhu has now climbed to second place in the women’s live ratings, overtaking both Lei Tingjie and women’s world champion Ju Wenjun. At 22, Zhu is the youngest of the four Chinese players (led by Hou Yifan) currently occupying the highest positions in women’s chess.
Ivan Cheparinov playing white against Zhu Jiner | Photo: Anna Shtourman
Final standings
| 1 | GM | PRANAV, V | 2597 | 7 | 2629 | |
| 2 | GM | JACOBSON, Brandon | 2594 | 6 | 2642 | |
| 3 | GM | MARTINEZ ALCANTARA, Jose Eduardo | 2636 | 6 | 2606 | |
| 4 | GM | TABATABAEI, M. Amin | 2673 | 6 | 2602 | |
| 5 | GM | ZHU, Jiner | 2536 | 5,5 | 2627 | |
| 6 | GM | ADITYA, Mittal | 2560 | 5,5 | 2625 | |
| 7 | GM | DONCHENKO, Alexander | 2616 | 5,5 | 2614 | |
| 8 | GM | SJUGIROV, Sanan | 2636 | 5,5 | 2609 | |
| 9 | GM | MISHRA, Abhimanyu | 2610 | 5,5 | 2608 | |
| 10 | GM | LU, Shanglei | 2647 | 5,5 | 2606 | |
| 11 | GM | SULEYMANLI, Aydin | 2609 | 5,5 | 2599 | |
| 12 | GM | NIHAL, Sarin | 2692 | 5,5 | 2593 | |
| 13 | GM | PRANESH, M | 2589 | 5 | 2637 | |
| 14 | GM | MURADLI, Mahammad | 2586 | 5 | 2637 | |
| 15 | GM | PICHOT, Alan | 2581 | 5 | 2634 | |
| 16 | GM | MOVAHED, Sina | 2558 | 5 | 2618 | |
| 17 | GM | DANESHVAR, Bardiya | 2625 | 5 | 2601 | |
| 18 | GM | NARAYANAN, S L | 2595 | 4,5 | 2647 | |
| 19 | GM | HONG, Andrew | 2580 | 4,5 | 2638 | |
| 20 | GM | ZEMLYANSKII, Ivan | 2586 | 4,5 | 2636 | |
| 21 | GM | DUDIN, Gleb | 2583 | 4,5 | 2630 | |
| 22 | GM | GREBNEV, Aleksey | 2595 | 4,5 | 2623 | |
| 23 | GM | SHANKLAND, Sam | 2670 | 4,5 | 2602 | |
| 24 | GM | CHEPARINOV, Ivan | 2625 | 4,5 | 2601 | |
| 25 | GM | MENDONCA, Leon Luke | 2606 | 4,5 | 2598 |
