Pentala Harikrishna facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Pentala Harikrishna
Pentala in 2025
Country	India
Born	(1986-05-10) 10 May 1986 (age 39) Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, India
Title	Grandmaster (2001)
FIDE rating	2719 (August 2025)
Peak rating	2770 (December 2016)
Peak ranking	No. 10 (November 2016)

Pentala Harikrishna (born 10 May 1986) is a famous Indian chess player. He holds the highest title in chess, a Grandmaster. In November 2016, he reached his highest world ranking at number 10. He also achieved his best rating of 2770 in December 2016.

Pentala Harikrishna became the youngest Indian Grandmaster on 17 August 2001. This record was later broken by other talented players like Koneru Humpy and Gukesh Dommaraju. He has won many important titles, including the Commonwealth Champion in 2001. He also became the World Junior Champion in 2004 and the Asian Individual Champion in 2011.

Harikrishna has represented India in seven Chess Olympiads. He helped his team win a bronze medal at the World Team Chess Championships in 2010. At the Asian Team Championships, he won a gold medal in 2009 and two silver medals in 2003 and 2012. In February 2013, he reached an Elo rating of 2700. He was only the third Indian player to achieve this high rating.

Early Life and Learning Chess

Pentala Harikrishna was born in Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, India. He started playing chess when he was just 4 years old. His grandfather, Ranga Rao, taught him the game and was his first chess coach.

Becoming a Chess Star

Early Success as a Junior Player

Harikrishna was a very strong junior chess player. He won many national titles in India, including the Under-08 (1993), Under-10 (1995), Under-14 (1999), Under-15 (1998), and Under-18 (1998) championships. He also won the World Under-10 Championship in 1996.

His talent was clear when he joined the Indian team for the 2000 Chess Olympiad at only 14 years old. He played very well, earning his first Grandmaster norm. He quickly earned two more norms, which are steps needed to become a Grandmaster. By July 2000, he reached the required rating of 2500, officially becoming a Grandmaster.

Winning More Titles (2001-2004)

After becoming a Grandmaster, Harikrishna continued to win. He won the Commonwealth Championship in London in 2001. He also shared first place at the Hastings Chess Congress in early 2002. He kept improving his rating, reaching 2600 by July 2004.

In November 2004, he won the World Junior Chess Championship in Kochi, India. This was a big achievement, showing he was one of the best young players in the world.

Rising Through the Ranks (2005-2009)

Harikrishna started getting invited to even stronger tournaments. He tied for first place at the Bermuda tournament in 2005. He also won the Sanjin Hotel Cup, finishing a full point ahead of other players. He worked with Viswanathan Anand's former coach, Elizbar Ubilava, to improve his game even more.

In December 2005, he played in the Chess World Cup 2005. He won several matches before being knocked out in the third round. In 2006, he tied for first at the Reykjavik Open. He also won the Chess960 Junior Chess Championship. He continued to play in many team events, helping India win the Asian Team Championships in 2009.

Harikrishna at the 37th Chess Olympiad in Turin, Italy

Breaking 2700 and Major Wins (2010-2013)

In January 2012, Harikrishna won Group B of the Tata Steel Chess Tournament. This win earned him a spot in the top Group A for the 2013 tournament. He also won the Cappelle-la-Grande Open in 2012. By the end of 2012, his rating was 2698, very close to the elite 2700 mark.

In January 2013, he played in the Tata Steel A group for the first time. He finished seventh and, more importantly, broke the 2700 rating barrier. This was a significant milestone in his career. Later that year, he won the Biel Masters with an impressive score of 8½ out of 11.

Harikrishna at Tata Steel Group A in 2013

Continued Success (2014-2016)

Harikrishna continued to play in top tournaments. In 2014, he won a silver medal at the Asian Blitz Championship. In June 2015, he won the 10th Edmonton International tournament. He also tied for first place at the Isle of Man International.

In February–March 2016, he played in the IMSA Elite Mind Games in China. He performed very well in the blitz event, gaining many rating points and reaching a career-best blitz rating of 2774.

Recent Achievements (2020-2025)

In July 2020, Harikrishna won a Chess960 event at the Biel chess tournament. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, players were separated by plexiglass. He also represented India in the FIDE Online Chess Olympiad 2020, where India won a gold medal along with Russia.

In 2022, he played in the FIDE Grand Prix 2022. In 2023, he worked as a helper for Ju Wenjun during her Women's World Championship match.

Harikrishna was a member of the Indian team that won the gold medal at the Chess Olympiad 2024 in Budapest, Hungary. Gukesh Dommaraju, the current World Chess Champion, shared that Harikrishna was part of his preparation team for the World Chess Championship 2024, which Gukesh won against Ding Liren.

Most recently, he was part of the team that won the World Rapid Chess Championship in London in June 2025.

Team Achievements

Harikrishna has played for India in many team events. He has participated in eleven Chess Olympiads, starting when he was just 14 years old.

He also played in World Team Chess Championships, Asian Team Chess Championships, and Asian Games:

Harikrishna has also played for many different chess clubs around the world. He helped the Baden-Baden club win titles from 2007 to 2009. He won a silver medal with Baden-Baden at the European Chess Club Cup in 2008. He was also part of teams that won the Greek league in 2008 and the Turkish Super League in 2014. In 2014, he won an individual gold medal at the European Chess Club Cup with the Czech club G-Team Novy Bor.

Personal Life

Pentala Harikrishna married Nadezda Stojanovic, a Serbian chess player, in 2018. Their daughter, Maya, was born in March 2021. Since 2018, Harikrishna has been living in Prague, the capital city of the Czech Republic. He plays for the chess club Nový Bor there.

See also

In Spanish: Pendyala Harikrishna para niños