27 Facts About Pentala Harikrishna

Pentala Harikrishna was born on 10 May 1986 and is an Indian chess grandmaster.

Pentala Harikrishna achieved a peak world ranking of 10 in November 2016, and a peak Elo rating of 2770 in December 2016.

Pentala Harikrishna was Commonwealth Champion in 2001, World Junior Champion in 2004, and Asian Individual Champion in 2011.

Pentala Harikrishna represented India at seven Chess Olympiads from 2000 to 2012 and won team Bronze at the World Team Chess Championships in 2010.

At the Asian Team Championships, Pentala Harikrishna won his teams gold medal and two silver medals.

In February 2013, Pentala Harikrishna achieved an Elo rating 2700 for the first time, only the third Indian player to do so.

Pentala Harikrishna learned chess at the age of 4 from his grandfather Ranga Rao, who was his first chess coach.

Pentala Harikrishna was a highly successful junior player winning the Indian Under-08, Under-10, Under-14, Under-15 and Under-18 titles.

Pentala Harikrishna won the Under 18 prize at the Commonwealth Chess Championship in 1999.

Pentala Harikrishna's progress was such that, at the age of 14 years 5 months, he joined the Indian team for the 2000 Chess Olympiad, scoring 6.5 out of 11 rounds and earning his first Grandmaster norm.

Pentala Harikrishna shared second place with Vasilios Kotronias and Paul Motwani in the 2003 British Championships then shared first with Vasily Yemelin, Smbat Lputian and Pavel Kotsur in Abu Dhabi.

Pentala Harikrishna's form continued with shared second at the Sharjah Open half a point behind Kotsur, shared seventh at the Parsvnath Open, shared fifth at the Tata Open and second at the Asian Zonal 3.1b tournament held in Dhaka, a point behind Surya Shekhar Ganguly and shared third at GibTelecom Masters, a point behind Nigel Short.

Between the January 2003 and October 2005 rating lists, Pentala Harikrishna experienced a steady increase from 2539 to 2673, first reaching 2600 in July 2004.

Pentala Harikrishna came third in the Pune Super GM event, a point behind winner Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu but winning their individual game and was solid for India at the Chess Olympiad.

Pentala Harikrishna joined up with former Viswanathan Anand coach Elizbar Ubilava, looking to improve his game.

Pentala Harikrishna tied for second at the Mainz Ordiz Open.

Pentala Harikrishna finished the year helping India win the Asian Team Championships.

Pentala Harikrishna rounded off the year with the 40th Chess Olympiad and league games, ending the year at his highest rating so far with 2698.

Pentala Harikrishna finished the event placed seventh in the rapid and third in blitz events gaining a staggering 113 points in live ratings to reach the career best rating of 2774 in blitz.

Pentala Harikrishna represented India in the FIDE Online Chess Olympiad 2020 where India won the gold medal along with Russia.

Pentala Harikrishna was a member of the gold medal winning Indian team at Chess Olympiad 2024 held at Budapest, Hungary.

Gukesh Dommaraju, the World Chess Champion, has revealed that Pentala Harikrishna was a part of his preparation team for the World Chess Championship 2024, which Gukesh won against Ding Liren.

Pentala Harikrishna has represented India at eleven Chess Olympiads, making his debut at the age of 14 years 5 months during the 34th Chess Olympiad held in Istanbul with results as follows:.

Pentala Harikrishna took part in World Team Chess Championships, Asian Team Chess Championships and Asian Games events with results as follows:.

Pentala Harikrishna has played for a variety of teams in league events.

Pentala Harikrishna played for Baden Baden in three of their title wins from 2007 to 2009.

Pentala Harikrishna married Serbian chess player Nadezda Stojanovic in 2018.