Interview with Pentala Harikrishna

Harikrishna, sponsored by The Sun Group, was kind enough to grant me an interview after his Round 6 draw with Kamil Miton. Harikrishna's comments are in italics.

Q: You played an interesting ending against Sutovsky in the first round. When did this Zugzwang idea occur to you?

I was calculating the idea before he played Re6. I was very happy to see it because it is the only way white is winning in this position. (replay)

Q: You also played a nice ending against Bluvshtein, do you have any thoughts on that?

He made a few mistakes in the middlegame, but the endgame was very nice and complicated as well. (replay)

Q: Did you have to be brave to allow black two queens for several moves?

There were very few queen moves for black as my knight was supporting most of the squares and my king was quite safe, so I had just to calculate a few moves – nothing special.

Q: Is this your first trip to Canada?

Yes.

Q: What do you think about Montreal?

I haven’t had much time to go around but its quite nice here and I am very happy to be here.

Q: India is becoming a very strong chess playing nation, you have yourself, Sasikiran, Anand, Humpy. Would you say there is a style that Indian players share?

Nothing in particular as such. I think every player is different. The styles of Sasikiran and myself and Humpy are completely different. Indians don’t play positionaly or tactically it depends on the player and his choice.


Q: In the second round you played Nigel Short. What does it feel like to play your former coach?

In fact, before I took coaching from him he defeated me twice, and after I took coaching from him he defeated me again twice. So I had to be careful for this game. I think it was equal (Short v Harikrishna 0-1 rd 2 Montreal International, click to replay), he just missed Ne4.

Q: Is he okay after Qg4?

I was seeing this variation, and I think white is going into a slightly worse endgame but should be holding.

This interview is property of Robin Lindsay, all rights reserved. Please contact Robin Lindsay at rockrobinoff@gmail.com if you wish to reprint this interview.