Harika Dronavalli (born 12 January 1991) is an Indian

chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to disti ...

player who holds the

FIDE title FIDE titles are awarded by the international chess governing body FIDE (''Fédération Internationale des Échecs'') for outstanding performance. The highest such title is Grandmaster (GM). Titles generally require a combination of Elo rating and ...

of Grandmaster (GM). She has won three bronze medals in the

Women's World Chess Championship The Women's World Chess Championship (WWCC) is played to determine the world champion in women's chess. Like the World Chess Championship, it is administered by FIDE. Unlike with most sports recognized by the International Olympic Committee, wher ...

, in 2012, 2015 and 2017. Dronavalli was honored with the

Arjuna Award The Arjuna Award, officially known as Arjuna Awards for Outstanding Performance in Sports and Games, is the second-highest sporting honour of India, the highest being the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award. The award is named after Arjuna, one ...

for the year 2007–08 by the government of India. In 2016, she won the

FIDE Women's Grand Prix The FIDE Grand Prix is a biennial series of chess tournaments, organized by FIDE.https://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1135214/fide-womens-grand-prix-postponed-scandal Results Hou Yifan has won all three Grand Prix she has played. Koneru Humpy ...

event at

Chengdu Chengdu (, ; Simplified Chinese characters, simplified Chinese: 成都; pinyin: ''Chéngdū''; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: ), Chinese postal romanization, alternatively Romanization of Chi ...

, China and rose up from world no. 11 to world no. 5 in FIDE women's ranking.

Vladimir Kramnik Vladimir Borisovich Kramnik (russian: Влади́мир Бори́сович Кра́мник; born 25 June 1975) is a Russian chess grandmaster. He was the Classical World Chess Champion from 2000 to 2006, and the undisputed World Chess Cha ...

Judit Polgar Judit is a feminine given name related to Judith. Notable people with the name include: *Judit Bar-Ilan (1958–2019), Israeli computer scientist *Judit Elek (born 1937), Hungarian film director and screenwriter *Judit Földing-Nagy (born 1965), ...

and

Viswanathan Anand Viswanathan "Vishy" Anand (born 11 December 1969) is an Indian chess grandmaster and a former five-time World Chess Champion. He became the first grandmaster from India in 1988, and is one of the few players to have surpassed an Elo rating of ...

are her chess inspirations. In 2019, she was awarded the

Padma Shri Padma Shri (IAST: ''padma śrī''), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest Indian honours system, civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. Instituted on 2 January 1954, ...

for her contributions towards the field of sports.

Early life

Harika was born to Ramesh and Swarna Dronavalli on 12 January 1991 in Guntur where she attended Sri Venkateswara Bala Kuteer school Her father works as a deputy executive engineer at a Panchayat Raj subdivision in Mangalagiri. She started playing chess at a very young age and won a medal in the under-9 national championship. She followed it up with a silver medal in the world youth chess championship for under-10 girls. She subsequently became a student of coach NVS Ramaraju who refined her game. She became the second Indian woman to become a grandmaster, after

Humpy Koneru Koneru Humpy (born 31 March 1987) is an Indian chess player best known for winning the FIDE Women's rapid chess championship in 2019. In 2002, she became the youngest woman ever to achieve the title of Grandmaster (GM) at the age of 15 years ...

Personal life

She married

Hyderabad Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part ...

-based Karteek Chandra in August 2018. Her sister, Anusha, is married to Telugu film director

K. S. Ravindra K. S. Ravindra, popularly known as Bobby, is an Indian film director and screenwriter who works in Telugu cinema. He won Best Debut Director Award for ''Power'' (2014) at Santosham Film Awards. Early life and career K. S. Ravindra was born and ...

Achievements

2021

* Won Silver Medal at 2021 FIDE Women's World Team Championship. * Won Bronze Medal at FIDE Online Chess Olympiad 2021.

2019

* Awarded

Padma Sri Padma Shri ( IAST: ''padma śrī''), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is conferr ...

on 26 January (

Republic Day Republic Day is the name of a holiday in several countries to commemorate the day when they became republics. List January 1 January in Slovak Republic The day of creation of Slovak republic. A national holiday since 1993. Officially cal ...

2017

* Bronze Medal at the Women's World Chess Championship, 10 February – 4 March, Tehran, Iran.

2016

* FIDE Women Grand Prix, Khanty Mansiysk - 5th position * FIDE Women Grand Prix, Chengdu - Gold Medal. * Asian Women Team Chess Championship, UAE - Member Indian Team ** Individual Gold medal in Rapid format. ** Individual Silver Medal on Top Board in Classical format. ** Team won Bronze Medal in Rapid format.

2015

* World Women's Online Blitz Championship, Rome - Gold Medal. * Asian Rapid Women Chess Championship, UAE - Bronze Medal. * World Women Team Chess Championship, China - Member Indian Team ** Individual Silver Medal in Second Board ** Team stood 4th place. * World Women's Chess Championship, Sochi - Bronze Medal. * FIDE Women Grand Prix, Sharjah - Bronze Medal.

2014

* Asian Women Team Chess Championship, Iran - Member Indian Team ** Team won Silver medal in Standard format ** Individual Gold Medal on Top Board ** Team won Silver medal in Rapid format

2012

* World Women's Chess Championship, Khanty-Mansysk - Bronze Medal. * Asian Women Team Chess Championship, China - Member Indian Team ** Team won Bronze Medal * Women Chess Olympiad, Turkey - Member Indian Team ** Team got 4th place (best result in Indian Women Chess History.) * World Women Team Chess Championship, Turkey, - Member Indian Team ** Individual Silver Medal in Second Board ** Team stood 4th place.

2011

* 2011 Women Grandmaster Chess Tournament, Hangzhou, China - scored 5.5/9 and secured her third GM

norm Naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORM) and technologically enhanced naturally occurring radioactive materials (TENORM) consist of materials, usually industrial wastes or by-products enriched with radioactive elements found in the envir ...

(The GM title was conferred by the FIDE Congress 2011 82nd in Kraków, Poland in October.) * Asian Women Chess Championship, Iran - Gold Medal. * Commonwealth Women Chess Championship, South Africa - Silver Medal. * Grandmaster (GM) Title - Second Woman to Become Grandmaster in India.

2010

* Commonwealth Women Chess Championship, New Delhi - Gold Medal. * 16th Asian Games, Women's Individual Chess Category, Guangzhou China - Bronze Medal.

2009

* Asian Women Team Chess Championship, Kolkata - Captain Indian Women's Team ** Team won Silver Medal ** Individual Gold Medal on Top Board. * III Asian Indoor Games, Vietnam ** Women Individual Rapid Chess - Bronze Medal. ** Member in Team Blitz Chess - Bronze Medal. ** Team Rapid Chess - Bronze Medal.

2008

* World Junior Girls Chess Championship, Turkeym - Gold Medal. * Asian Women Team Chess Championship, Visakhapatnam - Captain Indian Team ** Team won Silver Medal ** Individual Silver Medal on Top Board.

2007

* Men International Master * 2nd Asian Indoor Games, Macau ** Rapid Chess Individual Women - Gold Medal. ** Classical Chess Individual Women - Bronze Medal. * 2nd Asian Indoor Games, Macau - Member Team India ** Rapid Chess Team - Gold Medal. ** Classical Chess Team - Silver Medal. ** Blitz Chess Team - Silver Medal. * Asian Zonal Women Chess Championship, Bangladesh - Gold Medal. * Commonwealth Women Chess Championship, New Delhi - Gold Medal.

2006

* World Youth Championship U-18 Girls, Georgia - Gold Medal. * Commonwealth Women Chess Championship, Mumbai - Gold Medal.

2005

* Asian Junior Girls Championship, Bikaner - Silver Medal.

2004

Woman Grandmaster FIDE titles are awarded by the international chess governing body FIDE (''Fédération Internationale des Échecs'') for outstanding performance. The highest such title is Grandmaster (GM). Titles generally require a combination of Elo rating and ...

(WGM) Title - Youngest Woman Grandmaster in Asian Continent. * Commonwealth U-18 Girls Chess Championship, Mumbai - Gold Medal. * Asian U-18 Girls Chess Championship, Iran - Bronze Medal. * World Youth Championship U-14 Girls, Greece - Gold Medal.

2003

* Commonwealth Women Chess Championship, Mumbai - Silver Medal. * Asian Women Chess Championship, Calicut - Silver Medal. *

Woman International Master FIDE titles are awarded by the international chess governing body FIDE (''Fédération Internationale des Échecs'') for outstanding performance. The highest such title is Grandmaster (GM). Titles generally require a combination of Elo rating and ...

(WIM) Title - Youngest Woman International Master in Asian Continent. * Asian Women Team Chess Championship, Jodhpur -Member Indian Team ** Team won Bronze Medal. ** Individual Gold Medal on 4th Board.

2002

* Asian U-18 Girls Chess Championship, Bikaner - Gold Medal. * Asian Under-12 Girls Chess Championship, Iran - Gold Medal. * World Youth Chess Championship U-12 Girls, Greece - Bronze Medal.

2001

* World Youth Chess Championship U-12 Girls, Spain - Silver Medal * Asian Under-12 Girls Chess Championship, Bikaner - Silver Medal

2000

* World Youth Chess Championship U-10 Girls, Spain - Silver Medal

National Level Achievements

* 2009 - National Women Chess Championship, Chennai - Gold Medal. * Won 16 Medals in National Level Tournaments including Women 'A' Championship, Women 'B' Championship, National Junior Girls and Sub-Junior Girls Titles during these 16 years.

Other Achievements

* Chess Player of the Year - 2016 and 2017 by The Times of India (TOISA Annual Awards) * Featured by Verve magazine in 2017 amongst the top 40 popular women sportspersons of the year

References

External links

*
Harika Dronavalli
at Chess Database {{DEFAULTSORT:Dronavalli, Harika 1991 births Living people Indian female chess players Chess grandmasters Female chess grandmasters World Youth Chess Champions World Junior Chess Champions Chess Olympiad competitors Asian Games medalists in chess Asian Games bronze medalists for India Chess players at the 2010 Asian Games Medalists at the 2010 Asian Games People from Guntur district Recipients of the Arjuna Award Recipients of the Padma Shri in sports Sportswomen from Andhra Pradesh Sport in Guntur Telugu people 21st-century Indian women 21st-century Indian people