Pragunika Vaka, all 7, is already a world chess champion! , Chess news

Ahmedabad: GujaratPragnika Waka was recently crowned world champion in the category of under -7 girls in 2025. Fid World School Championship It was held from March 20-28 at Vranjaka Banja, Serbia. The Surat girl scored nine out of nine and was the only Indian to win a gold medal in all age categories.
Twenty two students from India participated in the competition, which was held in six categories (U-7, U-9, U-11, U-13, U-13, U-15, U-17). In addition to Pagnika’s gold, India won two silver medals in the categories of U -7 Open and U -11 girls. Bijesh Divi won a silver in the U -11 girls category, while Om Ish Gotumukala claimed silver in the U -7 Open category.
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“Pagnika developed interest in playing chess Seeing his elder sister Varanya playing. Varanya is already an established chess player in Gujarat, “her father Ramnadh told TOI.” During Kovid, he began to see his sister playing chess and developed interest in the game. That he has achieved international success within a year and a half of playing chess, which shows him caliber. ,
Varanya has so far failed to achieve the success of her younger sister, which has surprised her father.
He said, “Varanya emerged as a district and then state champion in her age group. But success has removed her at the national level. Surprisingly, Pragnika had won the state level and was a national level runner -up. Now, she has won gold in her first international tournament,” she said.
Asked if he was convinced about Pragnika to win gold in Serbia, Ramnadh said, “I was confident of a top-five finish as Serbia players from Serbia, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Turkish and other strong chess-playing countries. In 2025, I was confident of a top-five finish.
How his daughter was taught to handle pressure at such a young age, Ramnadh said, “I used to take him to Mumbai regularly on Sunday and also allowed them to play in the open category with boys. This helped him to overcome fear of playing under pressure.”