Indian ace GM Pentala Harikrishna weds WFM Nadezda Stojanovic in Hyderabad

Indian ace chess grandmaster Pentala Harikrishna tied the knot to Serbia’s WFM Nadezda Stojanovic in Novotel, Convention Centre, Hyderabad yesterday.

Nadezda was the junior champion of Yugoslavia before the country got split. She gave up chess to pursue a career in academics and went on to complete her graduation in economics from Belgrade University. She also completed the FIDE Arbiter and instructor courses and was working in the European Chess Union until last year.

When it all started

The love story is almost 15 years old when the two first came in contact during tournaments in Europe. “We used to play in world youth tournaments, junior tournaments in the late ’90s. We knew each other from those days. But we were not in regular touch. Her sister is a Woman Grandmaster (WGM) and we met again a few years later when she accompanied her sister to the tournaments. Our contact was re-established and we started meeting frequently.” From almost 2002, they started courting each other but Harikrishna debunks the Bollywood theory that a girl and guy can also be friends. “We started off as friends and then love bloomed. Our opinions, ideas and interests met and then we decided to take our relationship to the logical conclusion. The common thread of course is chess — it was the binding factor.”

The All India Chess Federation wishes the newly-wed chess couple a happy married life.

Inputs from Vijay Tagore, Ahmedabad Mirror