Harikrishna on helping Ju Wenjun become the Women’s World Champion 2023

P. Harikrishna is one of India’s finest chess players. He has won several tournaments, but at the Women’s World Championships 2023, he took on a new role. The role was to help the defending champion Ju Wenjun in her match against Lei Tingjie. Hari was a second and trainer for the Chinese GM. The match was very well fought, but in the end it was Ju Wenjun who triumphed with a score of 6.5-5.5. In this video we catch up with Harikrishna to speak to him about his role as a second, the critical moments of the match and much more.

Timestamps of the full video:
0:00 – Hello and congratulations!
0:46 – How did Hari’s association with Ju Wenjun start?
3:32 – The difference of approach in the two seconds of Ju Wenjun
4:44 – Coming up with strong opening ideas
5:28 – Working with Wei Yi
6:09 – Hectic schedules before the World championship match
7:16 – Working remotely before the match
8:04 – The various aspects a second works on
10:42 – Ju Wenjun’s strengths
12:15 – Thoughts on Lei Tingjie’s play
14:00 – The clash of styles between Wenjun and Tingjie
14:22 – Accuracy of the players was very high!
15:08 – Radjabov’s work with Lei Tingjie
16:52 – High level opening prep – Anish Giri certified!
17:37 – Breaking down the match in terms of openings
18:31 – Ju Wenjun’s confidence in switching openings
20:11 – Taking a look at game 9: Wenjun goes for Sicilian!
22:08 – Lei Tingjie’s pawn sacrifices
22:57 – When Ju Wenjun equalized the score: Game 8
23:28 – The d4/c4 conundrum
24:45 – How should seconds talk with players after the game?
26:52 – Taking a deeper look into the endgame
29:19 – Feelings before the final game
30:15 – Harikrishna explains the opening intricacies
32:47 – From winning to equal – tiebreaks preparation started!
34:35 – Lei Tingjie’s critical error
37:07 – Wenjun’s fantastic Nb1! and flawless conversion
38:12 – The hard work Hari and Team did at the match
39:41 – The effects of working as a second and how it impacts Hari’s play
43:45 – What is next for you?
44:17 – Harikrishna in Team MGD1 at the World Rapid teams – “most Indian”!
45:26 – Future assignments of similar nature?
47:27 – Thank you and goodbye