New Delhi .Indian Grandmaster Pranesh M won the title of the prestigious Kanizsa Open 2026 chess tournament held in Hungary. In this nine-round tournament, Pranesh scored seven points and secured the first position on the basis of better tiebreak among players with equal points. His victory shows the strong presence of Indian chess at the international level.
Pranesh faced the white pieces against Germany's Vadim Petrovsky in the ninth and final round of the tournament on Sunday. By winning this game, he took his total number of points to seven. The title race became extremely competitive following the results of the final round, as many players remained in contention for the top spot with the same number of points.
After nine rounds, apart from Pranesh, Israel's Bronstein, Ukraine's Andrei Volokitin and India's Karthik Venkatraman also scored seven points each. Due to four players having equal points, the winner was decided on the basis of tiebreak. Due to better tiebreak, Pranesh remained on top and won the Kanijsa Open 2026 title.
Karthik Venkataraman had a chance to win the tournament alone, but in the last round he was held to a draw by Ukraine's Andrei Volokitin. On the other hand, Bronstein defeated his compatriot IM Benny Eisenberg to finish in the top group with seven points. These results kept the excitement and competition in the tournament till the final round.
Pranesh M is rated 2673 and is ranked 44th in the latest FIDE rankings for August 2026. Pranesh, who hails from Karaikudi in Tamil Nadu, had consistently strong performances throughout the tournament. Scoring seven points among strong international players and winning the title on the basis of tiebreak were the important highlights of their performance.
The performance of Indian players in Kanijsa Open 2026 was also remarkable. A total of 226 players were included in Group A. Apart from Pranesh, Neelash Saha secured 10th position by scoring 6.5 marks. Nitish Belurkar finished 20th with six points, while Ajay Santosh Parvathareddy and Bhattacharya Soham also scored six points and finished 21st and 23rd respectively.
In this way, Indian players secured six positions in the top 23 in the final table of the tournament. This performance also highlights the growing competitive edge of Indian chess players in international open tournaments.
The Indian Embassy in Hungary also congratulated Pranesh on his victory. His achievement was seen as a brilliant display of Indian chess talent on the global stage. This success in Hungary is an important achievement in Pranesh's chess career and can prove to be a confidence boost for him in the upcoming international competitions.