PENTALA Hari Krishna

General
APPROACH
He says his approach to chess has evolved over time, and believes he thrives under pressure. "My style of play has undergone changes over the years. But in general I do not like opening preparation. I feel at home in positions where both me and my opponent are out of opening preparation. In this fresh position I feel that I have the best chance to outplay my opponents. Maybe this was the reason why you would see relatively less theoretical games of mine until 2000 or 2001. But when I crossed 2600 [in the Elo rating system], I started paying attention to the opening phase of the game, because at that level you simply cannot ignore the openings. If you get a bad position, you might not be able to come out of it throughout the game. I don't like preparing for elaborate openings. I am more like a 'get into the game and figure out the moves' kind of a guy. I like to build on tension because I like to work in high-pressure situations." (indianexpress, 01 Aug 2022; chessbase, 30 Oct 2017)

MOVE TO EUROPE
In 2014 he relocated to Serbia. He has since moved to the Czech Republic, where he met his wife. "I shifted my base from India to Serbia in somewhere around 2014 to the beginning of 2015. My chess career was going on pretty well until then. But for me to reach the next step I had to stay near the players with whom I am practising. Secondly I play in a lot of leagues. The Czech League, the [German] Bundesliga, the Spanish League. So for me it was much more accessible." (indianexpress, 01 Aug 2022; chessbase, 30 Oct 2017)