A Chinese world title, with Indian help

Pentala Harikrishna, hands behind his back, politely posing for the camera in a white Shanghai team jacket at the Women's World Chess Championship venue during Game 2 earlier this month was a much grander reveal than it looked. At least for Indian chess followers.

- Susan Ninan

It was a surprise disclosure that the Indian Grandmaster was part of the newly crowned Chinese women's world champion Ju Wenjun's team for the match.

Harikrishna's association with Ju, perhaps not widely known, goes back a long way. They were Shanghai teammates in the Chinese chess league for the first time in 2008, finishing as champions.

The 37-year-old has turned out for the side a few more times since. It was Ni Hua, his former Shanghai teammate and Ju's trainer for previous matches, who got in touch with him, asking if he'd be up to work as a second. Hua's current role as head of the Chinese national team put him in an awkward spot in an all-Chinese title match between the defending champion and challenger Lei Tingjie.

"I have occasionally assisted a few players for tournaments," says Harikrishna, ranked 32 in the world. "But a World Championship match is nothing like that."

The magnitude and nature of the match - preparing to face one opponent over 12 classical games can be a lot more exacting for seconds. Harikrishna jumped right in and joined Ju's team - alongside Chinese GM Wei Yi - sometime around April, less than four months before the match. They had remote sessions and met only days ahead of the match in Shanghai.

"It was a team of three introverts. Neither of us is expressive. Working together though was a lot more fun than it sounds," he laughs. "I was perhaps the most talkative person in the group if you can imagine."