World Junior R3-4: Pranav and Sarayu in the lead

by Shahid Ahmed - 01/03/2025

GM Pranav Venkatesh and Yihan Meng (CHN) are the coleaders at FIDE World Junior Open 2025. Pranav defeated FM Raem Sherman (ISR) to score his fourth consecutive win. IM Gomez Manuel Campos (COL) lost to Yihan Meng (CHN) and the latter joined the lead with Pranav 4/4. In the Girls section, nine of them are at 3.5/4. WIM Sarayu Velpula is the sole Indian among them. WGM Rakshitta Ravi and WGM Savitha Shri B are at 2.5/4 each. Pranav inevitably clash with his coleader Yihan in the fifth round. Sarayu is up against WIM Yelyzaveta Hrebenshchykova (UKR). Round 5 starts today at 3 p.m. local time, 7:30 p.m. IST. Photo: Official site

Pranav wins four in-a-row

IM Manish Anto Cristiano F drew with the two-time Asian Junior champion, GM Aleksey Grebnev in Round 4. WGM Rakshitta Ravi got the better of the top seed slayer, WFM Sneha Halder in the fourth round.

GM Pranav Venkatesh is a coleader with Yihan Meng (CHN) | Photo: Official site

Round 3: Nico - Pranav: 0-1

GM Pranav Venkatesh (2615) made a short work of IM Nico Chasin (USA, 2415) in just 21 moves.

Position after 11...0-0-0!

11...0-0-0! is an excellent move 12.fxg4 Nxd4 13.Bf1 Qh4 Black is in full control of the position and White would require to find precise defense. Thus, White decided to play 12.Be3 Bc5 13.Bd5 Nxd5 14.Nxd5 Bd6 and Black won the game in seven more moves.

Round 4: Pranav - Raem: 1-0

GM Pranav V decided to sacrifice his queen after gaining a knight. It was undoubtedly the correct decision and what the position demanded. FM Raem Sherman (ISR, 2328) accepetd the queen sacrifice as there were no better choice.

Position after 27.d6

Even 27.dxc6! was also winning. 27...Nd7 28.Kh1 Rxe7 28.dxe7 Re8 29.g4 Qc5 30.Rxd7 and White eventually won the game.

Sarayau - Kirtadze, Round 4

Position after 24...Qg8?

WFM Anastasia Kirtadze (GEO, 2218) made an incorrect decision to shuffle her queen to the kingside 24...Qg8? 25.axb5 Nd8? 26.Qe3 computer recommends Nxc4! However, Sarayu went for the safer 26.Qe3 which was enough for her to gain decisive advantage and went on to convert it into a win to join the lead.

Sarayu Velpula is one of the nine girls at 3.5/4 | Photo: Niklesh Jain

A total of 156 players including 12 GMs and 37 IMs are taking part from 57 countries, 98 including 2 IMs, 7 WGMs and 13 WIMs are taking part from 48 countries across the world. The eleven-day eleven round Under-20 Rating tournament is being organized by Chess Federation of Montenegro and FIDE at Hotel “Palas” in Petrovac from 25th February to 7th March 2025. The time control of the event was 40 moves in 90 minutes + 30 minutes + 30 seconds increment from move no.1.

Replay Round 3-4 Open games

Replay Round 3-4 Girls games

Round 4 Open results

Rd.	Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
4	1	2	GM	Pranav V	2615	3	1 - 0	3	FM	Sherman Raem	2328	77
4	16	8	IM	Ilamparthi A R	2505	2	½ - ½	2	FM	Cina` Vittorio	2361	61
4	34	65	IM	Manish Anto Cristiano F	2355	1½	½ - ½	1½	GM	Grebnev Aleksey	2555	3
4	35	12	IM	Srihari L R	2498	1½	1 - 0	1½	FM	Adireddy Arjun	2315	81
4	37	18	IM	Rohith Krishna S	2481	1½	1 - 0	1½	FM	Assylov Miras	2285	85
4	38	22	IM	Aswath S	2470	1½	1 - 0	1½	FM	Casadio Niccolo`	2269	89
4	39	86	FM	Nagarkatte Vedant	2277	1½	½ - ½	1½		Kong Xiangrui	2452	27
4	41	30	GM	Prraneeth Vuppala	2442	1½	0 - 1	1½	CM	Prisacaru Stefan-Emilian	2212	99
4	60	100	FM	Sourath Biswas	2207	1	1 - 0	1		Shtavica Alaudin	1984	131
4	68	130		Kaloki Hawi	1990	½	0 - 1	½	FM	Jaiveer Mahendru	2251	95
4	71	138		Comley Jamie	1853	½	0 - 1	½	AIM	Vihaan Dumir	2014	125

Details

Standings after Round 4

Rk.	SNo		Name	Typ	sex	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4	TB5	n	w	we	w-we	K	rtg+/-
1	2	GM	Pranav, V	U20		IND	2615	4	0	8	9,5	2	4	4	4	3,22	0,78	10	7,8
2	43		Meng, Yihan	U20		CHN	2412	4	0	7,5	8,5	2	4	4	4	2,52	1,48	10	14,8
3	35	IM	Talibov, Shiroghlan	U20		AZE	2431	3,5	0	9	10	2	3	4	3,5	2,97	0,53	10	5,3
4	4	GM	Sokolovsky, Yahli	U20		ISR	2552	3,5	0	8	9,5	3	3	4	3,5	2,80	0,70	10	7
5	70	IM	Jin, Yueheng	U20		CHN	2343	3,5	0	8	8	2	3	4	3,5	2,06	1,44	10	14,4
6	10	GM	Ohanyan, Emin	U20		ARM	2501	3,5	0	7,5	9	2	3	4	3,5	2,74	0,76	10	7,6
7	24	IM	Suyarov, Mukhammadzokhid	U20		UZB	2465	3,5	0	7,5	9	2	3	4	3,5	2,80	0,70	10	7
8	50	FM	Agasarov, Benik	U20		ARM	2402	3,5	0	7	7,5	2	3	4	3,5	1,94	1,56	10	15,6
9	36		Wang, Hao(Zj)	U20		CHN	2424	3,5	0	6,5	7,5	2	3	4	3,5	3,08	0,42	10	4,2
10	14	IM	Seemann, Jakub	U20		POL	2494	3	0	9	11	2	3	4	3	2,51	0,49	10	4,9

Details

Round 5 pairings

Rd.	Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
5	1	43		Meng Yihan	2412	4	4	GM	Pranav V	2615	2
5	17	63	FM	Kiladze Luka	2359	2½	2½	IM	Ilamparthi A R	2505	8
5	18	61	FM	Cina` Vittorio	2361	2½	2½	IM	Srihari L R	2498	12
5	23	68	FM	Goroshkov Maksym	2349	2½	2½	IM	Rohith Krishna S	2481	18
5	26	87	FM	Kozlovic Jernej	2274	2½	2½	IM	Aswath S	2470	22
5	34	3	GM	Grebnev Aleksey	2555	2	2	FM	Nagarkatte Vedant	2277	86
5	42	100	FM	Sourath Biswas	2207	2	2	FM	Sapenov Daniyal	2391	56
5	44	104		Yang Siyuan	2182	2	2	IM	Manish Anto Cristiano F	2355	65
5	52	95	FM	Jaiveer Mahendru	2251	1½	1½	IM	Lamaze Simon	2447	28
5	53	103	FM	Neagu Roberto Florin	2197	1½	1½	GM	Prraneeth Vuppala	2442	30
5	56	81	FM	Adireddy Arjun	2315	1½	1½	FM	Qalichava Akaki	2180	105
5	60	89	FM	Casadio Niccolo`	2269	1½	1½	AIM	Vihaan Dumir	2014	125

Details

Round 4 Girls results

Rd.	Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
4	5	18	WIM	Hrebenshchykova Yelyzaveta	2259	2½	1 - 0	2½	WGM	Savitha Shri B	2332	9
4	6	10		Velpula Sarayu	2315	2½	1 - 0	2½	WFM	Kirtadze Anastasia	2218	27
4	19	4	WGM	Rakshitta Ravi	2365	1½	1 - 0	1½	WFM	Sneha Halder	2065	50
4	22	52		Mrittika Mallick	2058	1½	½ - ½	1½	WFM	Peglau Charis	2203	29

Details

Standings after Round 4

Rk.	SNo		Name	Typ	sex	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4	TB5	n	w	we	w-we	K	rtg+/-
1	5	WIM	Shukhman, Anna	U20	w	FID	2365	2	0	1	2	1	2	2	2	1,58	0,42	20	8,4
2	7	WGM	Nurman, Alua	U20	w	KAZ	2336	2	0	1	2	1	2	2	2	1,55	0,45	20	9
3	11	WGM	Toncheva, Nadya	U20	w	BUL	2311	2	0	1	2	1	2	2	2	1,54	0,46	20	9,2
4	12	WFM	Zhurova, Anna	U20	w	FID	2307	2	0	1	2	1	2	2	2	1,54	0,46	20	9,2
5	13	WIM	Karmanova, Olga Dm.	U20	w	FID	2292	2	0	1	2	1	2	2	2	1,53	0,47	20	9,4
6	15	WCM	Mungunzul, Bat-Erdene	U20	w	MGL	2268	2	0	1	2	1	2	2	2	1,51	0,49	20	9,8
7	17	WGM	Balabayeva, Xeniya	U20	w	KAZ	2264	2	0	1	2	1	2	2	2	1,51	0,49	20	9,8
8	18	WIM	Hrebenshchykova, Yelyzaveta	U20	w	UKR	2259	2	0	1	2	1	2	2	2	1,50	0,50	20	10
9	26	WFM	Mgeladze, Kesaria	U20	w	GEO	2219	2	0	1	2	1	2	2	2	1,66	0,34	40	13,6
10	8	WIM	Kairbekova, Amina	U20	w	KAZ	2336	2	0	1	1,5	1	2	2	2	1,57	0,43	20	8,6

Details

Round 3 pairings

Rd.	Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
3	4	9	WGM	Savitha Shri B	2332	2	2	WIM	Omonova Umida	2228	24
3	5	15	WCM	Mungunzul Bat-Erdene	2268	2	2		Velpula Sarayu	2315	10
3	10	27	WFM	Kirtadze Anastasia	2218	1½	1½	WGM	Rakshitta Ravi	2365	4
3	12	19	WGM	Kurmangaliyeva Liya	2251	1½	1½	WFM	Sneha Halder	2065	50
3	34	88		Guo Hanxi	1854	1	1		Mrittika Mallick	2058	52

Details

Links

Official site

Tournament Regulations

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