India, March 7 -- In the space of less than four months, India has another world champion in chess. Grandmaster Pranav Venkatesh is the new world junior chess champion. He needed only a draw in the final round to win the open category of the tournament held in Petrovac, Montenegro with a 9/11 score.

The Under-20 event had nearly 230 players from 44 countries participating, with 157 players (including 12 GMs) from 63 countries in the open section. Pranav was the second-highest rated player in the open field after Belgian GM Daniel Dardha.

Five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand - who was the first Indian to win the world junior title in 1987 in Baguio - took Pranav under his wing, and the 18-year-old has been a mentee at the Westbridg...