 "First Sports: How Harikrishna Pentala's Chinese connection helped Gukesh win World Chess Championship title")
It’s no secret that Dommaraju Gukesh, the newly-crowned world chess champion , had a strong supporting cast. His team consisted of mental conditioning coach Paddy Upton, the legendary Viswanathan Anand, Harikrishna Pentala, Grzegorz Gajewski, Vincent Keymer, Jan-Krzysztof Duda and Radoslaw Wojtaszek.
While everybody contributed to helping Gukesh beat China’s Ding Liren for the World Chess Championship title, Harikrishna Pentala played a huge role that stands out among the rest.
How Harikrishna’s Chinese connection helped Gukesh
In 2001, Harikrishna Pentala had become the then-youngest Indian Grandmaster at the age of 15, and since then, he has come a long way, helping India win a historic gold at the 45th Chess Olympiad in Hungary. Harikrishna, a former Commonwealth Chess Champion, knows a thing or two about winning titles.
D Gukesh Exclusive | 'A childhood dream pushed us to World Chess Championship victory'
Pentala’s own experience, however, was not the only factor that helped Gukesh win the World Chess Championship title. Pentala understands the playing style of Chinese players, having spent several seasons with the Shanghai team in the Chinese Chess League.
For a significant part of 2023, Pentala helped prepare China’s Ju Wenjun for her World Championship final. Pentala was also teammates with Chinese Grandmaster Ni Hua in the Chinese Chess League. Interestingly, Hua was part of Ding Liren’s team for the World Chess Championship match against Gukesh.
The fact that Liren is Pentala’s friend also worked in Gukesh’s favour. “I have been playing with and against Chinese players for a very long time. Many of the Chinese players are my close friends. So you could say I understand Chinese players quite well. Ding is my good friend actually. In 2019, he visited my home in Prague when he was in the city to play David (Navara),” Harikrishna said.
Pentala’s understanding of Chinese players, particularly Ding himself, proved to be decisive as Gukesh beat Liren with a 7.5-6.5 margin in the World Chess Championship match in Singapore. Gukesh thus became only the second Indian to win the title, and the youngest to do so at 18 years old.
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