GM Pranav Anand, India's 76th Grandmaster and one of the players NAAV Foundation supports, has won the Brasov Grand Prix Classic 2026 in Romania — finishing first outright with 7.5/9, without losing a single game.
The tournament, organised by the Romanian Chess Federation (Federația Română de Șah) at Hotel Aro Palace in Brasov from 25–31 July, drew more than 150 players in a 9-round Swiss event with an average rating of 2169. Pranav, rated 2588, was among the top seeds — and played like it, going six wins and three draws across the nine rounds to top the field outright. His diploma records the result plainly: Locul I General — first place overall — with a 25,000 LEI prize.
A Result With Real Resistance In It
In round 8 he held Igor Kovalenko — a 2672-rated grandmaster, 84 points above his own rating — to a draw with the black pieces. Three rounds earlier, he'd ground out an even longer battle: 118 moves against David Gavrilescu (2537) in a rook endgame that went deep into a second time control before ending level. Both results kept his unbeaten streak alive against players rated well above the field average.
The wins were just as telling. He beat Filip Magold (2501) and Mamikon Gharibyan (2485) — both well clear of most of the field — and closed out the tournament in round 9 with a win over Cristobal Henriquez Villagra (2603), the highest-rated player he defeated all week, to seal first place outright.
Round by Round
| Rd | Opponent | Rating | Colour | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Danila, Tudor-Gabriel | 2158 | Black | Win |
| 2 | Velpula, Sarayu | 2280 | White | Win |
| 3 | Khripachenko, Alexander | 2363 | Black | Win |
| 4 | Magold, Filip | 2501 | White | Win |
| 5 | Gavrilescu, David | 2537 | Black | Draw (118 moves) |
| 6 | Manish, Anto Cristiano F | 2376 | White | Draw |
| 7 | Gharibyan, Mamikon | 2485 | Black | Win |
| 8 | Kovalenko, Igor | 2672 | Black | Draw |
| 9 | Henriquez Villagra, Cristobal | 2603 | White | Win |
Sourced from the official tournament record on chess-results.com and the full PGN of all nine games (linked below).
Part of a Bigger Season
It's the kind of result that doesn't happen by accident. A 9-round Swiss against 197 opponents punishes one bad day — Pranav didn't have one. This adds to a season that's already included the President's Cup of Tajikistan, the 42nd Cappelle la Grande Open, a 4th-place finish at the London Chess Classic Open, and a peak rating of 2606 — all part of the same trajectory that took Pranav from Karnataka state youth tournaments to becoming, at 15, India's 76th Grandmaster, and that in December 2025 put him across the board from Magnus Carlsen at the World Blitz Championship.
Every game in an event like this is a data point in the same story NAAV Foundation exists to support: sustained, high-level competition is what turns talent into titles, and that competition costs money most families can't absorb alone — entry fees, a week and a half in Romania, and the coaching that goes into preparing for a field this deep.
NAAV Foundation funds exactly this: the travel, the coaching, and the tournament fees standing between talented Indian players and results like this one.
Support the Next One →