Pranav V

Pranav Venkatesh (born 13 October 2006), also known as Buddy Pranav, is an Indian chess grandmaster.

Chess career
Pranav began playing chess at the age of 6, and had several coaches including Visweswaran Kameswaran. He obtained his first two GM norms at the Serbia Open in 2021 and in the Vezerkepzo GM tournament in Budapest, Hungary in June 2022.

In August 2022, Pranav obtained his final norm by winning the Limpedea Open in Baia Mare, Romania championship, becoming the 75th grandmaster from India and the 27th grandmaster from the state of Tamil Nadu.

In October 2022, he played for India in the World U-16 Youth Olympiad (alongside Pranesh M, Harshad S, Rohit S, Mrittika Mallick, and Boramanikar Tanisha S), alongside competing in the Magnus Carlsen Academy Challenge, winning both events. He later won chess24's Challengers Chess Tour by defeating Raunak Sadhwani in the final round.

In October 2023, he competed in the 38th edition of the European Chess Club Cup with Offerspill Sjakklub. Led by Magnus Carlsen, Offerspill Sjakklubb triumphed, after scoring a decisive last-round victory against Asnieres – Le Grand Echiquier (France). Pranav's overall performance of 5/7, including victories against Jorden van Foreest and Grigoriy Oparin in the last two rounds, earned him a tweet from the world no.1 Magnus Carlsen - "Pranav is buddy and buddy is Pranav".

In January 2024, Pranav competed in the fifth edition of the Puzzles World Championships, hosted by chess.com, finishing 4th place overall. However, he produced the strongest resistance to eventual (5-time) winner Ray Robson, achieving a score of 3-5 sets with an aggregate puzzle score of 416-430.