V. Pranav came to Al Ain as the reigning World Junior champion in classical chess, a title he won in Petrovac, Montenegro, in 2025. He leaves the UAE with two more medals: silver in the rapid and now gold in the blitz. The FIDE World Junior Blitz Championship 2026 was a 13-round Swiss event with a time control of 3 minutes plus a 2-second increment, played on 5th and 6th November at the Danat Al Ain Resort. The Open section had 100 players and the Girls section 47.
Six wins on day one
Pranav began with six wins from his first seven games on the opening day, his only setback a fifth-round defeat against FM Musa Zakirov of Russia.
Day two was harder. Pranav won rounds eight and nine, then drew with GM Khumoyun Begmuratov of Uzbekistan, the man who had taken the rapid gold from him two days earlier. In round eleven he lost to IM Eldiyar Orozbaev of Kyrgyzstan, and suddenly the two were level on 9.5 with one round to go. Pranav had White against IM Alexander Khripachenko and won in 36 moves. On the next board Orozbaev lost to Robert Piliposyan. 10.5/13, a full point clear, and a second world junior title in twenty months. Orozbaev took silver and IM Robert Piliposyan of Armenia bronze, both on 9.5/13.
The game that decided it
Pranav's final-round win over IM Alexander Khripachenko, with commentary by IM Sagar Shah:
The rook goes to h1, again
Pranav's prettiest moment of the blitz came early, in round two, against 12-year-old Safin Safarullakhan. White has just captured a knight on e4. Black to play.
24...Rh1+!! 25.Kxh1 Qh3+ 26.Kg1 Qh2+ 27.Kf1 Qh1#. The rook goes to h1 for the second time in a week, and this time the queen follows it there to deliver mate.
In round twelve, against Shiroghlan Talibov of Azerbaijan, Pranav trapped a queen in the middle of the board.
So close to rapid gold
Pranav came agonisingly close to a golden double in Al Ain. He began the World Junior Rapid Championship with six straight wins to take the sole lead, before a seventh-round draw with Read Samadov slowed him down. The decisive blow came in round eight, where Pranav lost with the white pieces to Uzbekistan's Khumoyun Begmuratov. A draw in the final round left him on 7/9, half a point behind Begmuratov's 7.5, and he took silver in a four-way tie with Azerbaijan's Read Samadov and Armenia's Robert Piliposyan and Aleks Sahakyan.
Prraneeth Vuppala in the mix
Pranav's compatriot Prraneeth Vuppala also had a strong week in Al Ain. He finished sixth in the rapid championship with 6.5/9 and ended 15th in the blitz with 8.5/13. His best game was a 28-move win with White over GM Artem Uskov in round eleven of the blitz.
Girls: Kleymenova takes gold, Aamuktha fourth
In the Girls' blitz championship, Valeria Kleymenova took gold with 10/13, finishing half a point ahead of Uzbekistan's Afruza Khamdamova and Veronika Iudina, who both scored 9.5.
The Indian result of the Girls' event belongs to WIM Aamuktha Guntaka. Seeded 20th with a blitz rating of 1964, she finished fourth on 9/13, ahead of Kazakhstan's Zarina Nurgaliyeva on tiebreak. She drew with Eline Roebers and Afruza Khamdamova, and in the last round beat the second seed, WGM Umida Omonova, with the black pieces.
IM Savitha Shri, who did not have a good rapid, finished seventh in blitz with 8.5/13. Her best moment came in round five, a 35-move win with White over Eline Roebers, who had won the rapid title a day earlier.
The Netherlands' Eline Roebers, who won the girls' rapid title earlier in the week, finished eighth in the blitz event. Watch her interview after the rapid triumph:
Final standings
Blitz Open:
Rk. | SNo | Name | FED | Rtg | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 1 | GM | 2582 | 10.5 | 0 | 109.5 | 10 | ||
2 | 7 | IM | 2433 | 9.5 | 0 | 111 | 9 | ||
3 | 15 | IM | 2376 | 9.5 | 0 | 108.5 | 8 | ||
4 | 18 | FM | 2314 | 9.5 | 0 | 103 | 9 | ||
5 | 10 | IM | 2409 | 9 | 0 | 111.5 | 8 | ||
6 | 21 | FM | 2249 | 9 | 0 | 109 | 9 | ||
7 | 11 | IM | 2408 | 9 | 0 | 109 | 8 | ||
8 | 8 | GM | 2429 | 9 | 0 | 107.5 | 8 | ||
9 | 2 | GM | 2576 | 9 | 0 | 107 | 8 | ||
10 | 14 | IM | 2381 | 9 | 0 | 107 | 8 |
Girls Blitz:
Rk. | SNo | Name | FED | Rtg | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 10 | WGM | 2173 | 10 | 0 | 100.5 | 9 | ||
2 | 3 | WGM | 2282 | 9.5 | 0 | 102 | 7 | ||
3 | 11 | WFM | 2157 | 9.5 | 0 | 100.5 | 9 | ||
4 | 20 | WIM | 1964 | 9 | 0 | 102 | 8 | ||
5 | 5 | WIM | 2239 | 9 | 0 | 97 | 9 | ||
6 | 2 | WGM | 2398 | 8.5 | 1 | 107 | 8 | ||
7 | 6 | IM | 2233 | 8.5 | 2 | 100.5 | 8 | ||
8 | 1 | IM | 2428 | 8 | 0 | 106 | 7 | ||
9 | 8 | WIM | 2189 | 8 | 0 | 103 | 8 | ||
10 | 21 | WIM | 1899 | 8 | 0 | 96.5 | 8 |
Related Links
World Junior Rapid 2026: V. Pranav makes it six out of six!
This is where Pranav won the World Junior Blitz! The complete venue tour of Danat Al Ain (video)
