I am feeling at home: Harika on life at Mumba Masters

Indian Grandmaster D Harika has struck a strong bond with her upGrad Mumba Masters teammates so much so that she is already worried if the entire squad could be retained for the next edition of the Global Chess League. “When I think about next year… it will be hard if we do not get the same team,” Harika, a vital member of the Mumba team that is currently competing in the inaugural GCL season in Dubai, told DT Next during a virtual interaction on Thursday. Harika also spoke about life at Mumba Masters, working with familiar faces, learning from those around her and more.

EXCERPTS FROM DT NEXT INTERVIEW

How has the experience at upGrad Mumba Masters been so far?

It has been wonderful. The players have gelled well with each other. The players, I have known them for so many years. We see them when we compete individually in tournaments. Only when we got together as a team, we got to know each other well. The team owners are very good and really supportive. They know how sport works (U Mumba owns teams in other franchise leagues as well). On the very first day, they told us not to worry about results; they wanted us to fight as a team.

Does having familiar faces (teammates Koneru Humpy and Vidit Gujrathi and captain Srinath Narayanan) help when competing in a team event like the Global Chess League?

With Humpy, now-a-days, we are playing together often. We played at the Olympiad (in Mahabalipuram last year) and will be playing at the Asian Games (in Hangzhou later this year). Srinath is doing an amazing job. I am feeling at home.

How has it been sharing space with the other members of the squad?

Something new for me is getting to know the foreign players – Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France) and Alexander Grischuk (Russia). Maxime has been pretty cool and very supportive. As our ‘Icon’ player, he has been leading the team really well. Javokhir Sindarov is too young (17-year-old from Uzbekistan); I have been part of teams as a kid. It can be nervous at times, but this (playing in the GCL) is an amazing experience for the juniors. Me being a person who loves to learn from everything (everyone), it has been wonderful to interact with my teammates. We have a very good team rapport.

So how good is the camaraderie within the group?

We look after each other when the team is playing. After our matches, we try to go for dinner together. On one of our rest days, we had sporting activities (like playing cricket). When I think about next year… it will be hard if we do not get the same team (managing to pick the same players). For me, being an emotional person, I will miss the team when I go back. When you go from home to hostel, you feel empty for a couple of days. Just like that, I will miss the team [once GCL Season 1 is done].