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Journalism of Courage
After shaping the world championship-winning campaigns of Gukesh Dommaraju and Ju Wenjun as their second, and then making it to the round of 16 of the wildly-volatile FIDE World Cup as a player last month, Pentala Harikrishna is currently readying himself to sport a third hat: that of a team captain for the Mumba Masters franchise in the third edition of the Global Chess League, that will begin in Mumbai from December 14.
A team captain, like a captain in the Davis Cup team in tennis, does not play in games, but is in charge of overall strategy besides other intangible elements like player morale in the outfit. In a largely individualistic sport like chess, the GCL introduces a rare team dynamic which players only experience at Olympiads that happen once in two years or in European leagues. This makes the team captain’s role vital.
In the past, GCL franchises have used team meals as a way to foster team culture and bonding, especially with players coming from different nationalities.
“The first thing for me is to build a nice team atmosphere. For me, whether I am a captain or a player, I have always aimed to achieve that in the various leagues that I have played in. This time I will have a lot more time on my hands since I will not be playing,” Harikrishna tells The Indian Express.
Harikrishna says he will use daily team meetings as a way of helping teammates bond, but not meetings with dreary soliloquy speeches.
“It would be nice if we could do meals together as a team. But as a player I understand that everyone wakes up at a different time, eats at different times. So I don’t want to force them into doing something. I don’t want to create rules where players feel that they have to do something just because the captain said so. I’m slightly different in this regard than other captains. I don’t want to enforce anything on the team,” said Harikrishna.
Harikrishna also said that should any of the players in the team want some sparring practice to warm up before games, he would be available.
At the GCL Draft earlier this year, the Mumba Masters team snapped up strong international stars like Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, and Wesley So, all three of whom are in the top 20 ranks in FIDE’s rapid charts. While the team has always relied on a heavy core of Indian players in the past two seasons, this time they have just two Indians on the six-player roster: Koneru Humpy and Harika Dronavalli.
