 From a small village in India, to training and playing with the best in Belgrade. From winning the world under 10 championship to being one of the world's elite grandmasters. His calm personality gives away nothing of the grit and determination he brings to the board. The world's strongest grandmasters are here in Gibraltar. Today, we are with Pantala Hare Krishna. Hi Hari. Hi Tanya. Welcome to Gibraltar. We are very happy to have you with us. Thank you. So, let's start. Let's begin from the beginning. Tell us how did it all start for you? How did chess happen? Well, I was watching my grandfather play in my village and I used to go and just sit near him and look at pieces moving. And I was just fascinated the way chess was happening. Slowly I started to observe and one day I suggested a good move which both my grandfather and his opponent missed. And that's how he thought I am very passionate about chess and it would be wise decision to teach me chess and to take me to proper training and that's how I started. How old were you when all this happened? I was 4, 4.5 years old. So, would you say like there was some sort of inherent talent that your grandfather spotted at a very young age? Yeah, yeah. I think that's the right thing to say since he was giving me various mathematic puzzles just to keep me busy because as a kid I was always asking some task to some challenge or some kind of problem or puzzles and so on. As I understand he found a connection between the calculation in chess as well as the calculation in mathematics. So, I think that's one of the reasons why he thought I would excel in chess. So, you enjoyed both solving puzzles in maths and trying to find the best move on the board when you were just 4.5. Okay, awesome. You know I remember when we were kids we used to play in the same age group and you were the biggest name. I mean you were an immense talent. You won various age group titles. What do you think set you apart from the other kids at that time? I enjoyed the game more than other kids of my age back then and therefore it didn't put me under tremendous pressure or you know so I could just play freely. Therefore, I had more energy and that's probably the reason why I could win more championships back then. So, I remember once in my childhood I was playing against a player called Sanjay Halder from Calcutta and I was really scared of playing against him because he plays Sicilian. This was age group championship and I lost the game very easy. After that I got good advice from my grandfather which is not to be scared or afraid of anything even if you don't know you just go there enjoy and play. Maximum what will happen is you will lose the game so it will anyway happen if you are afraid. So, after that I kind of just played my chess and then whatever comes I accept it. Did you say you were able to handle the pressure better and sustain the pressure on the board? I would imagine yeah that's probably the reason and I think at every level this plays a major role. You know when you study your games especially from the time when you became a grandmaster it's very clear that the focus was more on the fight of the middle game and the end game and what the position had to offer rather than the opening theoretical battle of it. I feel that it's important that all the player I mean all chess players they should focus a lot on the middle game as well as end game and my coaches whom I worked at my younger days Mr. Koshy as well as Vladimirov they focus more on these areas rather than just opening and I think it helped me. Like when I am looking at chess I want to learn something new every day and it's not just to find the novelty or it's not I'm not thinking about just getting some idea and relating it to a win in next tournament but I really want to learn something in a way that I could improve my middle game as well. After winning the world under 10 you won the world junior you became a grandmaster when you were 15 years old. There was a meteoric rise and all that happened very smooth and very steady but then there was a time when things did not move forward. What happened? You know there will always be such a phase for most of the players and that's when I was around range of 2670 2680 I was jumping here and there but I didn't make the next jump for several years and that's when I decided to change something and then I started to work on it. It's important to analyze and go through what was not working for you and that's what I did. And I think it was it didn't happen like change didn't happen just like in a year or so but slowly you start to enjoy the game again and then the results will follow but it's more important to be persistent with what you believe in. I think that's what helped me at that stage. I think for every player when it is going good it was it's never a difficulty you know. The real test for any player is when they met with some failures. I think every player will have ups and downs but how they react when they had a bad tournament so on is quite important. The other big change that happened in your life was the move that you made from Hyderabad to Belgrade. How did that come about? I was thinking about moving to you know a country in Europe so that I can travel and play and also train because most of the players who might train are in Europe so and of course it helped me a lot to focus and have good training and yeah results improved after my move to Belgrade. At least I am able to play better and I improved in last couple of years and still a long way. And also when you play leagues you are in touch with the game and you just don't wait for tournaments which might or may not come regularly. So you have good practice as well as good training facilities here. So you get to play a lot more, training becomes easier but I am sure that there must have been certain challenges that you faced while you were making this move because it is also not easy to just shift base. Well I think it is very difficult, there will always be some difficulties but well there has to be some sacrifices in order to reach higher level and also once you like it is always difficult when you think about it but it is always okay when you are in the process. It is always fine once you are there. Take that step and then… Because I believe that thoughts are usually more dangerous than the actual thing you know. Yeah I think psychologically the biggest difficult question to face at that time is that success is not guaranteed even if you made this big sacrifice. But I didn't think about success. There will always be a point when you think like maybe I should have done this. I could have been better. I just don't want to have such questions in my life. Of course success is not guaranteed and I also didn't think that I will get success because Anand went and several other players not only from India but at the same time like I said I just don't want to have the feeling maybe I should have stayed in Europe or maybe I should have done this so that was the main and I think everyone should think about this. The best way to give it the best shot and not have regrets later on. Yes. You were also part of the world top 10 currently your world number 20. Yes. What aspects of the game do you feel differentiate and what is it that you would want to improve on to get back there? Well I think there is a big difference still between the top 10 and the rest of players but I will consider myself in top 10 when I win big events and not just by rating. I think it involves lot of things like focus to be more active not to be lazy. So you finally admit. Yes. I am probably lazier than the top 10 guys but it's more important to be focused during training and during playing chess and to also get more knowledge and get stronger as a player. So that's what I feel is necessary. And my last question to you is that in 2018 professionally and personally what are your goals? Well first of all I am glad to be back in Gibraltar. So I played here I don't know. I don't remember exactly how many years but first time I came here was in 2004. I hope to do well in Gibraltar and well I just want to win the events which I play in and that's what I try to and I hope to win some tournaments this year. So the want to win hasn't changed from the 4.5 year old Hari till now. Thank you for taking our time for us it was a pleasure talking to you. Thank you.