Participating in the 2017 event are 237 players, male and female, the best juniors in the world, all twenty years or younger. Multiple entries per nation are possible, and in the open section we find 15 Chinese players, 13 players from India, 9 Russians and one player from the US. Total 148. In the Girls' section we find 10 Indian players, 7 Russians, 5 Chinese girls, and two from the USA. Total 89.
After four rounds of play, in the Open section, there are two players with clean 4.0 scores. Nine players have 3½/4 points. Here are the leading players.
| Rk. | SNo | Title | Name | FED | Rtg | Pts. | rtg+/- |
| 1 | 11 | GM | Alekseenko Kirill | RUS | 2563 | 4.0 | 12.7 |
| 2 | 32 | FM | Sorokin Aleksey | RUS | 2483 | 4.0 | 16.3 |
| 3 | 6 | GM | Karthikeyan Murali | IND | 2578 | 3.5 | 8.0 |
| 4 | 23 | GM | Yuffa Daniil | RUS | 2527 | 3.5 | 6.8 |
| 5 | 26 | IM | Praggnanandhaa R | IND | 2509 | 3.5 | 11.1 |
| 6 | 2 | GM | Oparin Grigoriy | RUS | 2606 | 3.5 | 4.5 |
| 7 | 21 | IM | Xu Xiangyu | CHN | 2543 | 3.5 | 6.1 |
| 8 | 12 | GM | Martirosyan Haik M. | ARM | 2561 | 3.5 | 7.8 |
| 9 | 20 | GM | Sarana Alexey | RUS | 2543 | 3.5 | 6.0 |
| 10 | 14 | GM | Liang Awonder | USA | 2558 | 3.5 | 6.9 |
| 11 | 5 | GM | Tari Aryan | NOR | 2581 | 3.5 | 6.0 |
| Rk. | SNo | Ti | Name | FED | Rtg | Pts. | rtg+/- |
| 1 | 11 | GM | Alekseenko Kirill | RUS | 2563 | 5.0 | 16.6 |
| 2 | 5 | GM | Tari Aryan | NOR | 2581 | 4.5 | 10.5 |
| 3 | 26 | IM | Praggnanandhaa R | IND | 2509 | 4.5 | 17.1 |
| 4 | 21 | IM | Xu Xiangyu | CHN | 2543 | 4.5 | 11.6 |
| 5 | 12 | GM | Martirosyan Haik M. | ARM | 2561 | 4.0 | 7.3 |
| 6 | 32 | FM | Sorokin Aleksey | RUS | 2483 | 4.0 | 12.4 |
| 7 | 14 | GM | Liang Awonder | USA | 2558 | 4.0 | 7.6 |
| 8 | 23 | GM | Yuffa Daniil | RUS | 2527 | 4.0 | 7.3 |
| 9 | 2 | GM | Oparin Grigoriy | RUS | 2606 | 4.0 | 3.8 |
| 10 | 30 | IM | Lomasov Semen | RUS | 2490 | 4.0 | 12.8 |
| 11 | 56 | FM | Liu Yan | CHN | 2422 | 4.0 | 19.1 |
| 12 | 44 | IM | Dragnev Valentin | AUT | 2461 | 4.0 | 8.4 |
| 13 | 37 | IM | Zanan Evgeny | ISR | 2471 | 4.0 | 3.9 |
| 14 | 34 | IM | Li Di | CHN | 2479 | 4.0 | 4.2 |
| 15 | 7 | GM | Aravindh Chithambaram. | IND | 2572 | 4.0 | 2.0 |
All results from both groups are available here
So why are we making a fuss about this? Well, it is an under 20 championship, but one of the players in the top group is a preteen — just twelve! It is of course Praggnanandhaa about whom we have written a number of articles. We advise all chess fans to learn to pronounce it: prag-na-nand-a (but people like to call him Praggu or simply Pragg). In the first four rounds of the current World Junior Praggu, who is currently rated 2509, has scored three wins and one draw, with a performance rating of 2770.
Praggnanandhaa is from India — from the Vishy Anand town of Chennai. Naturally ChessBase India is ecstatic, following his progress closely, especially when he beat the top seed, GM Jorden van Foreest, rated 2616 and a former Dutch Champion, in round four. And Praggu did it in convincing style, with a flawless game. Here's what Sagar Shah had to say about it in his report.
It was 12.00 a.m. and I was about to go to bed. However, there are some things that you do not want to miss! Especially if it is 12-year-old Praggnanandhaa crushing a 2600+ opponent. Little Praggu is just 12 years old, but he decided to play the World Juniors (under-20) in Travisio, Italy. He started off well with 2.5/3, but the real big result was his fourth round win over the top seed Jorden van Foreest (2616).
You might remember that Jorden was able to beat GM Adhiban just a few days ago in a six game match that ended in a 3-3 draw, but was decided on tiebreaks. Now Adhiban is an extremely strong player. This just goes to show how competent Jorden really is. Little Pragg, who has been not in great form of late (especially at the Chigorin Memorial), rose up to the occasion and played a nearly flawless game to outplay van Foreest.
Praggnanandhaa was paired against Jorden in the fourth round of the World Juniors 2017. Both the players were on 2.5/3. Praggu opened the game with 1.e4 and Jorden replied with the classical 1...e5. Soon we were in the well known tabiyas of the Giuoco Piano. Praggnanandhaa had come well prepared with improvements over his game against Souleidis, while van Foreest also had some experience with his 2016 game against Loparizangeneh.
Former Dutch National Champion Jorden van Foreest is not a guy that you mess with | Photo: Lennart Ootes
But little Pragg has hardly ever cared for the stature of his opponents! All that he wants to do is play chess! | Photo: Lennart Ootes
Praggnanandhaa R 2509 - Van Foreest, Jorden 2616
Black has this beautiful classical position with centre control and all his pieces well developed, but White has attacking chances. His queen, two knights, two bishops and a rook are all ready to take part in the attack without any delay.
Bxf4 by Praggnanandhaa was a defining moment of the game
After that it meant that Black had to play with great energy and purpose, because positionally he was busted. White has this beautiful queenside majority and Black's kingside pawns are just not going anywhere. Also the bishop on a7 is in danger of becoming completely useless.
Jorden couldn't play in the most active manner and very soon landed in an equal material, but a completely lost endgame. Even though his opponent was a very strong opponent, Praggu didn't have any problems to convert this better ending.
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Playing Italian like Praggu might not be easy, but we can at least try. Tiviakov is a good guide to understand the complexities of this opening:
Many people are wondering whether Praggnanandhaa will become the youngest GM in the world by breaking Karjakin's record. While this is definitely very interesting, such games make us believe that Pragg will achieve much more than just the GM title. He will definitely be one of the best players in the world in the years to come, who knows even the World Champion! As for now, if he continues in this vein, he might well become the youngest World Junior Champion ever in the history of our sport!
