Pranav V becomes first Indian to qualify for 2027 FIDE Freestyle Chess World Championship
2 min readJun 30, 2026 01:28 PM IST Promising young chess talent Pranav V became the first Indian to qualify for the 2027 FIDE Freestyle Chess World Championship. The 19-year-old from Chennai confirmed his qualification through the first part of the 2026 Freestyle Friday Championship. The former World Junior Champion Pranav joins Magnus Carlsen, Fabiano Caruana, Nodirbek Abdusattorov, and Vincent Keymer in the Open category, as five names are confirmed for the eight-player championship. After 19 weeks of online play, Pranav finished first in the Open standings of the Freestyle Friday Championship with 60 points to secure his place in the 2027 World Championship, which will be played at the Weissenhaus Private Nature Luxury Resort in northern Germany. Before Pranav, Harika Dronavalli had already qualified for the women’s championship, making it two Indian representatives in the event. Ukraine’s Anna Muzychuk has also confirmed her place in the women’s championship through the same Freestyle Friday route. She topped the field in the women’s standings with 88 points from 19 weeks. In the Women’s category, Muzychuk joins …









