Mumbai, June 10 (IANS). SwiThe early rounds of S League events generally favor higher-rated players. The same was seen in the first round of the ‘360 One Junior Masters’ event being played at the World Trade Center in Mumbai. The fighting spirit of the junior players was clearly visible. There were decisive results on the first 48 boards and all were in favor of the seeded players, while only on the 49th board the match was drawn.
13-year-old Madhavendra Pratap Sharma (ELO rating 2373) has been given the top seed in the Junior Masters and is easily considered a strong contender for the title. Playing with black pieces in the very first round, Madhavendra defeated Aksh Srivastava. Junior Masters Chess Tournament is the most important tournament of junior chess and is considered to be the highest prize money tournament for juniors in the country, in which a prize money of Rs 10 lakh is given. Launched with the aim of providing a world-class platform to young talents to showcase their abilities, the event has become one of the most sought-after tournaments on the global junior chess calendar.
125 young players from India, America and Zambia have participated in the 2026 edition, whose average age is only 11 years. This shows the tremendous presence of emerging talent in the game today. Over the past few years, the Junior Masters has made a name for itself in discovering the future stars of World Chess. The players who participated in this and became champions include some of the best talents of India, like current world champion D. Gukesh, R. Praggnanand, Divya Deshmukh and Pranab Venkatesh; All of them have achieved great success at the international level.
Round 1 results:
Aksha Srivatsava (0) had to face defeat at the hands of Madhavendra Pratap Sharma (1). Ankit Das (1) defeated Pranitha Bhava (0). Avyan Darji (0) was defeated by Nijesh R (1). Sheetz Prasad (1) defeated Tisya Apoorva (0). Tanush Mandovaara (0) lost to Venkat Naga Karthik Malladi (1). Precharla Hariram Saikrishna (1) defeated Ivan Dubey (0). Abhinav Palanichamy (0) was defeated by Aryan Amol Waghmare (1). Kavyansh Jain (1) defeated Yuven Gaurav Jhaveri (0). Kala Dhyani (0) lost against Amanlal A (1). At the same time, Aaradhya Roy (1) defeated Myra Ravi Jhaveri (0).
–IANS
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