Pendyala Harikrishna

Pentala Harikrishna
Full name	Pentala Harikrishna
Country	India
Born	May 10, 1986 (1986-05-10) Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, India
Title	Grandmaster
FIDE rating	2665 (January 2012) (No. 82 in the January 2012 FIDE World Rankings)
Peak rating	2686 (April 2009)

Pentala Harikrishna (Telugu: పెంటేల హరికృష్ణ; born May 10, 1986) is a chess player from Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, India. Harikrishna became the youngest grandmaster from India in 2001. As of January 2012, he is the 3rd highest rated player in India after Viswanathan Anand and Krishnan Sasikiran, No. 9 in Asia and 82nd in the world.

In November 2004, he won the World Junior Chess Championship. In August 2006, he won the Chess960 (Fischer Random) Junior Chess Championship, beating Arkadij Naiditsch 4.5–3.5 in the final.

As of early 2012, GM Harikrishna is playing first board for chess club Eppingen in Chess Bundesliga, and he is a member of Spanish chess club Solvay since 2007 (first board). Harikrishna is also the first board for BPCL A team, which has won PSPB Inter Unit Chess Tournaments in 2010 and 2011. In international team competition, Harikrishna has represented the Indian team in six Chess Olympiads since 2000.

In May 2011 he won the Asian Chess Championship.. In January 2012 he won group B of the Tata Steel Chess Tournament. This result qualifies him to participate in the A group in 2013, considered one of the strongest tournaments each year.

Away from chess, Harikrishna is majoring in political science, sociology, and public administration at DR. B. R. Ambedkar Open University (Andhra Pradesh Open University).^{[citation needed]}

He is also employed at Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd. in Hyderabad from June 2010.^{[citation needed]}

Championships

National achievements

• Under-8 Palakkad, Kerala, 1993, Gold.
• Under-10 Kozhikode, Kerala, 1994, Bronze.
• Under-10 Madurai Tamil Nadu, 1995, Silver.
• Under-10 New Delhi, 1995/95, Gold.
• Under-12 Kozhikode, Kerala, 1996, Gold.
• Under-12 rapid Kozhikode, Kerala, 1996, Gold.
• Under-12 rapid Chennai, Tamil Nadu,1997, Gold.
• Under-15 Bikaner Rajasthan, 1998, Gold.
• Under-19 Kozhikode, Kerala, 1998, Bronze.
• Under-12 Ahmedabad, Gujarat, 1998, Gold.
• Under-18 Bikaner Rajasthan , 1998, Gold.
• Under-15 Aurangabad, Maharasthra, 1998, Gold.
• Under-14 rapid Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, 1998, Gold.
• Under-14 Howrah, West Bengal 1999, Gold.
• All India Open FIDE rated tournament, Kochi, 1999, Gold.
• Tal Chess FIDE rated tournament, Kozhikode, Kerala, 1999, Gold.
• International Chess tournament, Aurangabad, Maharasthra, 1999, Bronze.

International achievements

• World under-10 championship, 1996, Menorca (Spain), Gold.
• World under-12 rapid championship, 1996, Paris, Silver.
• Asian Chess Championship, 1998. Iran, Bronze.
• Children's Olympiad, 1998, Istanbul, Gold.
• Commonwealth Chess Championship, 1999, Bikaner, Gold.
• Asian Youth Chess Championship, 1999, Ahmedabad, Gold (under-14).
• Commonwealth championship, 2000, Sangli, Gold (under-18).
• India's youngest International Master, 2000.
• Asian under-14 Chess Championship, 2000, Tehran, Gold.
• National 'A' Championship, 2000, Mumbai, Fifth.
• Asian Junior Championship, 2000, Mumbai, Silver.
• 2000 Chess Olympiad, Istanbul, First Grandmaster (GM) norm.
• Corus tournament, 2001, Wijk aan Zee, Second GM norm.
• National 'A' Championship, 2000, New Delhi, Fifth.
• Asian Junior Championship, 2001, Tehran, Silver.
• Asian Championship, 2001, Kolkata, Tenth; Qualified for World championship; Final GM norm.
• India's youngest GM, 2001.
• Ron Banwell MSO Masters tournament, 2001, London, Gold.
• Commonwealth championship, 2001, London, Gold.
• Hastings International Chess Congress, 2001/02, tied for 1st–3rd.
• World Youth Chess Championship, 2002, Iraklio (Greece), Bronze (under-18).
• World Junior Champion, 2004.
• Hastings International Chess Congress, 2002/03, Silver.
• Asian Team Chess Championship, 2003, Jodhpur India, Team Silver.
• Commonwealth championship, 2003, Mumbai, Gold (under-18).
• Smith & Williamson British Chess Championship, 2003, Edinburgh, Silver & British under-21 Champion.
• Abu Dhabi Chess Festival, 2003, Abu Dhabi, Silver.
• Sharjah International Chess Festival, 2003, Sharjah United Arab Emirates, Silver.
• Asian Zonal Chess Championship, 2004, Bangladesh, Silver.
• Commonwealth championship, 2004, Mumbai, Gold (under-20).
• Gibraltar Masters Chess Tournament, 2004, Gibraltar, Bronze.
• Dubai Open Chess Championship, 2004, Dubai, Silver.
• Abu Dhabi International Tournament, 2004, Abu Dhabi, Silver.
• Pune Super Grand Masters Tournament, 2004, Pune India (Maharashtra), Bronze.
• World Junior Champion , 2004, Kochi, Gold.
• Bermuda International Invitational Tournament, 2005, Shared First with Boris Gelfand.
• HB Global Chess Challenge Tournament, 2005, Minneapolis USA, Silver.
• Tiayuan Chess Tournament (FIDE Category 15) in China on 20 July 2005, Clear First.
• Ordix Open Rapid Tournament, 2005, Germany, Silver.
• Spanish Team Chess Championship, 2005, Spain, Team Gold (first board player).
• 9th Essent Tournament Hoogeveen, 2005, Clear First.
• Chess World Cup , 2005, Russia, III Round.
• Pamplona International Tournament, 2005, Shared Second with Ivan Cheparinov.
• Reykjavik Open, 2006, Shared First.
• Four Nations Chess League (4NCL), 2006, England, Team Silver.
• Asian Games (classical game)team, 2006, Doha, Gold.
• 4th Marx Gyorgy Memorial tournament in Hungary, 2006, clear First.
• Beats Arkady Naiditsch in Mainz, 2006 to become Chess960 World Junior Champion.
• Carlos Torre Repetto Memorial knock out tournament, 2007, second (lost to Vassily Ivanchuk in tie-break).
• Montreal International, 2007, Montreal, third place (after Vassily Ivanchuk and Sergei Tiviakov).
• Reggio Emilia chess tournament, 2007, shared second place.
• Spice Cup Tournament, 2008, USA, Gold.
• Nancy closed chess tournament, 2009, Nancy, France, Gold.
• Chigorin Memorial(blitz), 2009, St Petersburg, Gold.
• Chigorin Memorial (classical), 2009, St Petersburg, shared second place.
• Asian Indoor Games (mixed blitz category), 2009, Viethnam, Bronze.
• Asian Team Chess Championship, 2009, Kolkata, Gold.
• World Team Chess Championship , 2009, Turkey, Bronze.
• New York Open, 2010, New York,USA, Gold.
• World Open chess tournament, 2010, Valley Forge, USA, shared second place.
• Chicago Open, 2011, Chicago, USA, shared second place.
• Asian Continental Individual Chess Championship, 2011, Iran, Gold.
• World Open chess tournament, 2011, Philadelphia, USA, shared third place.
• Won the Group B of the Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2012 in Wijk aan Zee.

Team achievements

• Chess Bundesliga triple Champion 2007,2008 and 2009 with chess club Baden-Baden.
• Silver medal with chess club Baden-Baden 2008 in European Club Cup, Kallithea, Greece.
• Greek league Champion 2008 with chess club Kavala.
• Bronze in Russian league 2008 with chess club Elara.
• Silver in Spanish league 2006 with chess club Cuna de Dragones.
• Champion of Bosna and Hercegovina with chess club Bosna in 2009.
• Champion of China Chess League 2008/29 with chess club Shangai.

Notable chess games

• Pentala Harikrishna vs Zhong Zhang, Premier 2002, French Defense: Normal Variation (C00), 1-0
• Pentala Harikrishna vs Alexander Morozevich, Hyderabad 2002, Queen's Gambit Declined, Chigorin defence (D07), 1-0
• Pentala Harikrishna vs Liviu Dieter Nisipeanu, Pune Super GM 2004, Nimzo-Indian Defense: Classical Variation (E32), 1-0
• Pentala Harikrishna vs Xu Jun, FIDE World Championship Knockout Tournament 2004, Benoni Defense: Taimanov Variation (A67), 1–0
• Pentala Harikrishna vs Leinier Dominguez-Perez, Bermuda 2005, Caro-Kann Defense: Accelerated Panov Attack, Modern Variation (B10), 1-0
• Pentala Harikrishna vs Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Aerosvit GM Tournament 2006, Four Knights Game: Scotch Variation, Krause Gambit (C47), 1-0
• Nigel Short vs Pentala Harikrishna, Montreal International 2007, Russian Game: French Attack (C42), 0-1
• Pentala Harikrishna vs Levon Aronian, Young Masters 2001, Bogo-Indian Defense: Grünfeld Variation (E11), 1-0
• Zoltan Almasi vs Pentala Harikrishna, 4th Marx Gyorgy Memorial 2006, Spanish Game: Marshall Attack, Modern Main Line (C89), 0-1
• Pentala Harikrishna vs Magnus Carlsen, 6th Lausanne Young Masters 2005, Russian Game: Nimzowitsch Attack (C42), 1-0
• Baadur Jobava vs Pentala Harikrishna, Russian Team Championship 2007, Spanish Game: Closed. Bogoljubow Variation (C91), 0-1
• Pentala Harikrishna vs Veselin Topalov, Bilbao Blindfold Chess World Cup 2007, Sicilian Defense: Modern Variations (B50), 1-0
• Pentala Harikrishna vs Alexander Morozevich, ACP Rapid 2007, Spanish Game: Morphy Defense, Anderssen Variation (C77), 1-0
• Pentala Harikrishna vs David Navara, Torneo di Capodanno 2008, Sicilian Defense: French Variation, Porstich Anti-King's Indian Attack (B40), 1-0
• Pentala Harikrishna vs Peter Svidler, Olympiad 2008, Gruenfeld Defense: General (D80), 1-0
• Pentala Harikrishna vs Arkadij Naiditsch, Corus (B Group) 2010, Formation: King's Indian Attack (A07), 1-0
• Pentala Harikrishna vs Wesley So, 16th Asian Games Team Final Men 2010, Neo-Grünfeld Defense: Delayed Exchange Variation (D74), 1-0

Sample game

	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h
8									8
7									7
6									6
5									5
4									4
3									3
2									2
1									1
	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h

The position after 14...Qa7. Here white plays 15.Bb4! As Ra1 directly gives black the chance of pinning the rook with Ra8!! and now the threat of Ra1 cannot be stopped..

The game shown here was the final knockout match in the Carlos Torre Memorial Tournament 2007, in Merida, Mexico. Here Harikrishna, with white, is facing Vassily Ivanchuk, who was world number 2 at that point.

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3!? g6 3. Nbd2 d5 4. e3 Bg7 5. b4! (5. b3 c5 5... O-O 6. Be2 b6 7. Bb2 Nbd7 8. b5! Bb7 9. O-O a6 10. a4 axb5 11. axb5 Rxa1 12. Qxa1 Qa8 13. Ba3 Re8 14. Qb2 Qa7 15. Bb4! Bf8 16. Ra1 Qb8 17. Ne5 e6 18. Bxf8 Nxf8 19. Ndf3 Ne4 20. c4 f6 21. Nc6 Bxc6 22. bxc6 Qd8 23. Qb4 Qd6 24. Qxd6 Nxd6 25. cxd5 exd5 26. Ne1 Ne6 27. Nc2 f5 28. Bd3 Ne4 29. g4! Kf7 ( 29... fxg4 30. Bxe4 dxe4 31. Ra7 Rc8 32. Nb4 with the idea Na6 followed by d5. ) 30. Nb4 Rd8 31. f3 Nd2 32. gxf5 gxf5 33. Kf2 f4 ( 33... Kf6 34. Rd1 Nb3 35. f4 would leave black tied up to the defense of the f5-pawn. ) 34. exf4 Ke7 ( 34... Nxf4 35. Ke3 Nb3 36. Ra7 Ne6 37. Nxd5 Rxd5 38. Bc4 Ra5 39. Rxc7+ Kf6 40. Bxe6 Kxe6 41. Rd7 Nxd4 42. Kxd4 ) 35. Re1 Kd6 36. Re5 Nxf4 37. Ke3 Nxd3 38. Kxd3 Nxf3 39. Rh5! 1-0

External links

• P Harikrishna site
• Harikrishna Pentala on Twitter
• Pendyala Harikrishna rating card at FIDE
• Pendyala Harikrishna player profile at ChessGames.com
• Pendyala Harikrishna at 365Chess.com
• Statistics at ChessWorld.net

Interviews

• Interview with Grandmaster P Harikrishna, Latest Chess, 20 August 2077.
• Harikrishna wins Tata Steel Chess Tournament, The Times of India, 30 January 2012.
• Harikrishna bemoans lack of quality opposition, The Hindu, 8 February 2012.