Harika Dronavalli

Born: January 12, 1991 | Federation: India | Rating: 2507

Harika Dronavalli won multiple junior events, including the world U20 championship in 2008. She won three bronze medals in the Women's World Chess Championship, in 2012, 2015 and 2017, and in August 2022 she won the gold medal with Team India at the Chennai Chess Olympiad – only two weeks before giving birth to her first daughter.

Harika Dronavalli was born in the Indian province of Guntur. TV program about Vishy Anand's success inspired young Harika to start playing chess. Initially, her parents treated her efforts with caution, but later they devoted all their efforts to Harika, who became a real star.

The young Indian won the junior world championship three times (U14, U18 and U20) and dominated the female Commonwealth championships, which were quite difficult. In 2008, in an intense competition with Mariya Muzychuk, Harika Dronavalli became the world U20 junior champion, for which the Indian Ministry of Sport awarded her with the prestigious Arjuna Award that is given to winners of sporting competitions in her homeland.

In interviews, Harika often mentions that, aside from Anand, her heroes are Judit Polgar and Vladimir Kramnik. She considers Polgar the best female chess player in history and she values Kramnik for his spectacular debuts and positioning mastery.

In 2004, while playing for the Indian team, she won five medals at Asian championships and became the best on her board at world championships and Olympiads. In 2010, she took the 3rd place at the Asian Games. Harika Dronavalli is the second Indian woman to become a grandmaster, after Humpy Koneru.

In each recent women's world championships, Harika Dronavalli fought for the crown. In 2010, she reached quarter-finals, where she lost to Ruan Lufei. Two years later (Khanty-Mansiysk 2012), she advanced to the semi-finals, but could not overcome Antoaneta Stefanova. In Sochi 2015, the Indian grandmaster broke into the top four, but lost to the future champion Mariya Muzychuk. Finally, in Tehran 2017 Harika broke into the top four once again, and once again she lost to the future champion Tan Zhongyi.

Harika Dronavalli was the world Internet-blitz champion in 2015.

Demonstrating strong results on a consistent basis, charming Harika has many supporters at home, who see her as a potential world champion. In 2019, she was awarded the Padma Shri (the fourth highest civilian award in the Republic of India) for her contributions in the of sports area.

She entered the Women’s Grand Prix as the first reserve player (by rating), covering the spot left by Hou Yifan, who give up her right to compete.