Imagine you are playing the second seed at the World Junior Rapid. A pawn has just attacked your rook. You have a minute and 40 seconds left on your clock. What do you do?
Most of us would move the rook to safety and play on. GM V. Pranav left it exactly where it was, and that decision took him to the sole lead! After six rounds of the FIDE World Junior Rapid Championship 2026 in Al Ain, UAE, the top seed has played six and won six.
The rapid is a nine-round Swiss with a time control of 15 minutes plus a 10-second increment, played from 2nd to 4th November at the Danat Al Ain Resort. There are 91 players in the Open section and 42 in the Girls section, with eight Indians on the Open starting list and two in the Girls. The blitz follows on 5th and 6th November.
Three out of three on day one
Pranav (2592), the reigning World Junior champion in classical chess, began with Black against Uzbekistan's Muzaffarjon Abdurasulov (1714). He then beat FM Musa Zakirov (2205) with White and Kyrgyzstan's IM Eldiyar Orozbaev (2400) with Black.
At the end of the first day, five players had a perfect 3/3: Pranav, GM Prraneeth Vuppala, GM Artem Uskov, IM Satbek Akhmedinov and IM Artiom Stribuk.
Round five: the pawn that could not capture!
Day two began with a win over Kazakhstan's IM Satbek Akhmedinov (2447). Then came the big one: Black against the second seed, GM Artem Uskov (2513), who had beaten Prraneeth in the previous round.
Pranav chose the Caro-Kann. This was a serious fight on the clock too: by move 16, each player had spent more than six minutes on a single move. Right up to move 19, the engine called the position dead equal. Then Uskov, with just over a minute left, attacked the rook with 20.g3. Have a look at the position below.
Black to play. What would you do? Take a minute before you read on!
20...Bxg3! The bishop simply takes the pawn, and White cannot take back, because the h2-pawn is pinned. But Uskov went 21.Qf3 Rxh2+ 22.Kg1 Qxd4+ 23.Be3 and here came the stunning move and the point of the whole combination Rh1+!!
Pranav was the sole leader on 5/5. You can play through the whole game below.
He was not done for the day. In round six he had White against IM Artiom Stribuk (2380), and this one needed patience. It took 66 moves, but the full point arrived: six out of six!
Prraneeth Vuppala is right behind
Pranav is not the only Indian in the top five. GM Prraneeth Vuppala (2406) is on a very healthy 5/6. His only loss came against Uskov in round four, and he hit back straight away, beating FM Musa Zakirov and then IM Satbek Akhmedinov on board 4.
Standings after six rounds:
Pranav leads by a full point, with four players on 5/6.
Rk. | SNo | Name | FED | Rtg | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | TB4 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 1 | GM | V. Pranav | IND | 2592 | 6 | 0 | 23.5 | 6 | 2275 |
2 | 3 | IM | Samadov Read | AZE | 2466 | 5 | 0 | 23.5 | 4 | 2221 |
3 | 11 | GM | Prraneeth Vuppala | IND | 2406 | 5 | 0 | 22 | 5 | 2147 |
4 | 7 | GM | Begmuratov Khumoyun | UZB | 2433 | 5 | 0 | 22 | 4 | 2152 |
5 | 8 | IM | Khripachenko Alexander | FID | 2430 | 5 | 0 | 20 | 4 | 2053 |
6 | 2 | GM | Uskov Artem | FID | 2513 | 4.5 | 0 | 26 | 4 | 2276 |
7 | 10 | GM | Khubukshanov Erdem | FID | 2412 | 4.5 | 0 | 24 | 3 | 2157 |
8 | 15 | IM | Stribuk Artiom | FID | 2380 | 4.5 | 0 | 23 | 4 | 2204 |
9 | 14 | IM | Piliposyan Robert | ARM | 2394 | 4.5 | 0 | 22.5 | 4 | 2094 |
10 | 22 | FM | Hommadov Amanmuhammet | TKM | 2229 | 4.5 | 0 | 20 | 4 | 1960 |
Girls section: Omonova and Kleymenova set the pace
WGM Umida Omonova (UZB, 2285) and WGM Valeria Kleymenova (FID, 2202) share the lead on 5.5/6. They drew with each other on the top board in round four, and both have won every other game. They are a full point ahead of WIM Marina Kuznetsova, WIM Aliaksandra Tarasenka and the top seed, IM Eline Roebers, all on 4.5/6.
For India, WIM Aamuktha Guntaka (1998) is on 3.5/6. Her best win so far came in round five, when she beat Kazakhstan's WIM Mariya Kholyavko (2171), rated 173 points higher. IM Savitha Shri (2350), the most amazing player for team India at the Chess Olympiad 2026, struggled on the first two days and is currently on 3/6, with three rounds to fight back.
Rk. | SNo | Name | FED | Rtg | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | TB4 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 6 | WGM | Kleymenova Valeria | FID | 2202 | 5.5 | 0 | 24 | 5 | 2125 |
2 | 5 | WGM | Omonova Umida | UZB | 2285 | 5.5 | 0 | 23.5 | 5 | 2093 |
3 | 12 | WIM | Kuznetsova Marina | FID | 2127 | 4.5 | 0 | 23 | 4 | 2085 |
4 | 8 | WIM | Tarasenka Aliaksandra | BLR | 2194 | 4.5 | 0 | 22 | 4 | 2190 |
5 | 1 | IM | Roebers Eline | NED | 2366 | 4.5 | 0 | 20.5 | 4 | 2038 |
6 | 10 | WFM | Iudina Veronika | RUS | 2134 | 4 | 0 | 24.5 | 4 | 2105 |
7 | 3 | WGM | Khamdamova Afruza | UZB | 2322 | 4 | 0 | 23.5 | 4 | 2060 |
8 | 4 | WIM | Kaliakhmet Elnaz | KAZ | 2292 | 4 | 0 | 22.5 | 4 | 2078 |
9 | 11 | WIM | Nurgaliyeva Zarina | KAZ | 2133 | 4 | 0 | 22 | 4 | 2078 |
10 | 15 | WFM | Satanovskaia Evgeniia | RUS | 2079 | 4 | 0 | 20.5 | 4 | 1859 |
Can Pranav make it nine out of nine?
The rapid champions will be decided today. Round 7 starts at 4.30 p.m. IST, round 8 at 5.50 p.m. and round 9 at 7.40 p.m. Pranav has Black on board 1 against Azerbaijan's IM Read Samadov (2466), while Prraneeth has Black against IM Robert Piliposyan (2394) on board 3.
You can follow the games LIVE on ChessBase India and check the full standings on Chess-Results. All 76 of our pictures are in our Facebook album.
Who do you think will win the title? Let us know in the comments section below. Good luck, Pranav and Prraneeth!
