Pentala Harikrishna Height, Age, Wife, Family, Biography

Quick Info→

Age: 38 Years

Wife: Nadezda Stojanovic

Hometown: Hyderabad

Bio/Wiki
Nickname	Hari
Profession	Chess Player
Physical Stats & More
Eye Colour	Black
Hair Colour	Black
Career
Title	Grandmaster (2001)
Rating & Ranking	• FIDE: 2699 (May 2024) • Peak Rating: 2770 (December 2016) • Ranking: No. 37 (May 2024) • Peak Ranking: No. 10 (November 2016)
Medals & Trophies	Asian Games • Gold medal in Mixed Team at Doha (2006) • Silver medal in Men's Team at Hangzhou (2022) • Bronze medal in Men's Team at Guangzhou (2010) Chess Olympiad • Gaprindashvili Trophy at 45th Chess Olympiad at Budapest, Hungary (2024)
Personal Life
Date of Birth	10 May 1986 (Saturday)
Age (as of 2024)	38 Years
Birthplace	Guntur, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh
Zodiac sign	Taurus
Nationality	Indian
Hometown	Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh
College/University	An Open University
Educational Qualification	He is a college dropout.
Religion	Hindu
Social Media	• Instagram • Facebook • Twitter
Relationships & More
Marital Status	Married
Affairs/Girlfriends	Nadezda Stojanovic (chess player)
Marriage Date	3 March 2018
Marriage Place	Novotel, Convention Centre, Hyderabad
Family
Wife/Spouse	Nadezda Stojanovic (chess player)
Children	Daughter- Maya (b. 2021)
Parents	Father- P Nageswara Rao
Other Relatives	Grandfather- Ranga Rao

Some Lesser Known Facts About Pentala Harikrishna

When he was four and a half years old, he was staying at his maternal grandfather’s house in the village Pratipadu, near Guntur in Andhra Pradesh. His grandfather liked to play chess as a hobby.

When Pentala Harikrishna was a child, he was interested in playing cricket. He used to see his grandfather playing chess. His grandfather would spend hours playing chess with other people in the village.
A childhood picture of Pentala Harikrishna

When his grandfather saw that his Harikrishna was interested in playing the game, he decided to teach him the rules.

One day, while his grandfather was playing with a friend, he suggested Pentala Harikrishna a move that both players had missed. The move turned out to be the best one.

This made his grandfather realize that Pentala Harikrishna could become a good chess player.
A blurred childhood photo of Pentala Harikrishna with his grandparents

After that, his grandfather began giving him regular mathematical puzzles, which he was good at solving. Pentala Harikrishna solved the math puzzles in his mind without pen and paper.

His grandfather felt that Pentala Harikrishna had an aptitude in both chess and mathematics and should be taught more. Harikrishna was fascinated by the calculations and strategy of chess and enjoyed playing it.

Pentala Harikrishna often played chess against his grandfather and did not give up until the end.

His grandfather then invited some of the best players from his village to play against him so that Harikrishna could practice more.

Once, in a media interview, Pentala Harikrishna remembered his first tournament where he beat a rated player who was very happy because his photo appeared in the newspaper for losing to a boy who could not even reach the table.

As a child, he used to sit on his grandfather’s lap while participating in chess tournaments. Later, when people started saying that he was receiving help, he began sitting on two pillows to reach the chessboard.

His first coach was his grandfather. Later, he was trained by G.K. Narayana of Guntur and then Shiv Prasad of Vijaywada.
A childhood picture of Pentala Harikrishna after winning a chess championship

According to him, he enjoyed the tension of the game and wanted to keep it.

Many of his opponents often finished in second or third positions because he was the best at sustaining the pressure.
A childhood picture of Pentala Harikrishna while playing chess

Harikrishna was a successful junior chess player. He won several titles including Indian Under-08 in 1993, Indian Under-10 in 1995, Indian Under-14 in 1999, Indian Under-15 in 1998, and Indian Under-18 in 1998.
Pentala Harikrishna after winning U-15 Nationals in Bikaner (1998)

Pentala Harikrishna became the World Under-10 Champion in 1996.

He won the Under-18 prize at the Commonwealth Chess Championship in 1999.

When he was 14 years and 5 months old, Harikrishna joined the Indian team for the 2000 Chess Olympiad.

After that, Harikrishna earned his second and third Grandmaster norms.

In 2001, he secured seventh place at the Asian Individual Championship with a score of 7/11. In 2001, Harikrishna won the Commonwealth Championship in London on a tiebreak.

Pentala Harikrishna then qualified for the 2002 FIDE World Chess Championship, where he was defeated in the first round by Alexander Beliavsky.

After that, he achieved the Grandmaster title by reaching a FIDE rating of 2500 in the July 2000 rating list.

He got first place on tiebreak with Alexei Barsov and Krishnan Sasikiran at the Hastings International Chess Congress in 2002.

Pentala Harikrishna finished half a point behind Sasikiran in the 2002 National “A” Championship.

During the same time, he participated in the World Youth Olympiad in 2002.
Pentala Harikrishna at the World Youth Olympiad in 2002

After completing his 12, he enrolled in an Open University; however, he could not complete his education because the Asian championships always clashed with his exams.

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

Harikrishna’s rating increased from 2539 in January 2003 to 2673 in October 2005. It reached 2600 in July 2004.

Vasyl Ivanchuk defeated him in the second round of the FIDE World Chess Championship 2004.

In 2004, he finished fourth at the Abu Dhabi Open. After that, he came third in the Pune Super GM event, a point behind winner Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu.

Pentala Harikrishna won the World Junior Chess Championship in Kochi, India, in November 2004.

In early 2005, he competed in the Bermuda Tournament.
Pentala Harikrishna with his fellow chess players

In 2005, he participated in Dos Hermanas tournaments. He then finished fifth on a tiebreak at the HB Global Challenge. After that, Harikrishna teamed up with former Viswanathan Anand coach Elizbar Ubilava to improve his game.

In 2005, Pentala Harikrishna won the Sanjin Hotel Cup and finished at 8.5/11 points.

After that, he tied for second position at the Mainz Ordiz Open. He then participated in the Lausanne Master. He won the Essent Crown Group championships in October 2005.
Pentala Harikrishna in Lausanne (2005)

In December 2005, at the Chess World Cup, he defeated Yu Shaoteng by 3-1 and Giovanni Vescovi by 4-2, but was defeated in the third round by Alexei Dreev by 2.5-1.5.

In March 2006, Pentala Harikrishna tied for first place at the Reykjavik Open championships with 7/9 points.

After competing in the 37th Chess Olympiad, he did not perform well at Aerosvit and shared last place.

In 2006, Pentala Harikrishna won the Chess960 Junior Chess Championship held at the Marx Gyorgy Memorial.

In 2007, he performed poorly with 3.5/9 points at the Aeroflot Open. He then earned third position at the Montreal International and lost in the final round to the winner, Ivanchuk.

Pentala Harikrishna then tied for first position at the Marx Gyorgy Memorial Championships. In 2007, he finished 20th at the Mainz FiNet Rapid Open.

He finished in fourth position at the 2008 Corus Group B championships with 7.5/13 points. He won on a tiebreak at the Spice Cup in Lubbock, United States, in September 2008.
Pentala Harikrishna while playing at the Spice Cup in Lubbock, United States

In January 2009, he shared the seventh position at the Gibraltar International Chess Festival after losing the last round to Peter Svidler.

Pentala Harikrishna won the Nancy Rapid event in February 2009 and finished a point ahead of Georg Meier. He finished fifth out of six with 4/10 points at the 39th Bosna Tournament.

After that, he struggled at Zurich’s 200th Anniversary event. He shared 27th place with 6/9 points.

In 2009, Pentala Harikrishna came fifteenth after many tiebreaks in the Open section and won the blitz section at the Chigorin Memorial.

He won the Asian Team Championships at the end of 2009.

In January 2010, he tied for sixth position at Corus Chess Group B with 6.5/13 points.

Pentala Harikrishna did not perform well at the Asian Individual Championship. He then shared first place with Ehlvest at the New York International in 2010.

After that, he shared second place with 7/9 points at the World Open. He then lost his ratings at the Canadian Open with 6/9 points and shared 23rd place.

His performance in the Asian Games, the Spanish league, and the Chess Olympiad helped him recover his rating back to 2667 after a steady fall from April 2009 (2686) to July 2010 (2645).

In May 2011, Pentala Harikrishna won the Asian Chess Championship after tying with Yu Yangyi and Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son with 6.5/9.

He struggled at the World Team Championships, scoring 3.5/9 against 2700-rated players, and was eliminated from the Chess World Cup in the second round by Dmitry Jakovenko 1.5-0.5.

In 2012, Pentala Harikrishna won Group B of Tata Steel, scoring 9/13 points. He then won the Cappelle-la-Grande Open on tiebreaks with 7/9 points.

In July 2012, he was third on tiebreaks at the Benasque Open, scoring 8/10 points. He then secured fifth position on tiebreaks at the Biel Master event with 7.5/11 points.

In December 2012, he reached his highest rating of 2698.

In January 2013, Pentala Harikrishna appeared in the Tata Steel A group and finished seventh with 6.5/13 points.

He then participated in the Greek league, won at the Biel Masters with 8.5/11 points, and tied for fifth place at the HZ Open with an unbeaten 7/9 points.

In January 2014, Pentala Harikrishna finished seventh in the rejigged Tata Steel Masters with 5.5/11 points. After that, he scored 7/10 points at Gibraltar.

After claiming silver at the Asian Blitz Championship, he played only league games until July 2014 when he finished third on a tiebreak at Biel.

At the first Qatar Masters, Pentala Harikrishna scored 5.5/9 to tie for 25th place.

In 2015, he participated in several team events including the World Team Championships, where he scored 5/9 points.

In June 2015, Pentala Harikrishna won the 10th Edmonton International, scoring 7.5/9 points.
Pentala Harikrishna after winning a chess championship in 2015

In February and March 2016, he participated in the IMSA Elite Mind Games in China.

In July 2020, Pentala Harikrishna won the Chess960 event at the Biel chess tournament with 5.5 points in 7 games. He also represented India in the FIDE Online Chess Olympiad 2020, where India won the gold medal along with Russia.

In February and March 2022, he played in the FIDE Grand Prix 2022.

Pentala Harikrishna is trained in archery.
Pentala Harikrishna while practising archery

In 2015, Pentala Harikrishna met the late Indian President APJ Abdul Kalam.
Pentala Harikrishna while meeting APJ Abdul Kalam in 2015

He is an animal lover and has a pet cat and a dog.
Pentala Harikrishna with his pet cat

Pentala Harikrishna with his pet dog

Pentala Harikrishna is a fitness enthusiast and regularly does physical exercises. He often shares videos of his workout sessions on social media.
Pentala Harikrishna while doing pull-ups

He likes travelling to distant places in his free time.
Pentala Harikrishna while enjoying a trip