Pendyala Harikrishna is an internationally recognised chess prodigy from the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. In a career spanning from 1996, when he was just 10, to the present day, Harikrishna has played remarkably in several international and national tournaments. He early became the cynosure of Indian chess by attaining Grandmaster status in 2001, making him India`s youngest to attain the title, and has continued to perform remarkably in several formats of the game. Pendyala Harikrishna is presently ranked No. 8 in Asia and 76th in the world as per FIDE rating as on July 2011. Pendyala Harikrishna was born on 10th May 1986 in Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, India.
Career of Pendyala Harikrishna
Amongst the top Indian players ranking Harikrishna is rated 3rd next to Viswanathan Anand and Krishnan Sasikiran. In the year 2001, Harikrishna became the youngest grandmaster from India. He won the World Junior Chess Championship in the year 2004. After beating Arkadij Naiditsch 4.5-3.5 in the final, in August 2006, he won the Chess960 (Fischer Random) Junior Chess Championship. He was conferred the Arjuna Award in the same year. The highest rating he has achieved is 2682.
The championships that Pendyala Harikrishna has played throughout his career for and won are:
| World under-10 championship, 1996, Menorca (Spain), Gold. | Corus tournament, 2001, Wijk Aan Zee, Second GM norm. | 9th Essent Tournament Hoogeveen, 2005, Clear First |
| World under-12 rapid championship, 1996, Paris, Silver. | National `A` championship, 2000, New Delhi, Fifth. | Bermuda Invitational Tournament, 2005, Shared First with Boris Gelfand |
| Children`s Olympiad, 1998, Istanbul, Gold. | Asian junior championship, 2001, Tehran, Silver. | Pamplona International Tournament, 2005, Shared Second with Ivan Cheparinov |
| Commonwealth championship, 2000, Sangli, Gold (under-18). | Asian championship, 2001, Kolkata, Tenth; Qualified for World championship; Final GM norm. | Reykjavik Open, 2006, Shared FIRST. |
| India`s youngest International Master, 2000. | India`s youngest GM, 2001. | 4th Marx Gyorgy Memorial tournament in Hungary, 2006, clear FIRST. |
| Asian under-14 championship, 2000, Tehran, 2000-01, Gold. | Ron Banwell MSO Masters tournament, 2001, London, Gold. | Ordix Open (Rapid chess) - Shared Third. |
| National `A` championship, 2000, Mumbai, Fifth. | Commonwealth championship, 2001, London, Gold. | Beats A.Naidistch in Mainz to become Chess960 World Junior Champion. |
| Asian junior championship, 2000, Mumbai, Silver. | World Junior Champion, 2004. | |
| Chess Olympiad, 2000, Istanbul, First Grandmaster (GM) norm. | Tiayuan Chess Tournament (FIDE Category 15) in China on 20 July 2005, Clear First |