Harika Dronavalli

Harika Dronavalli (born 12 January 1991) is an Indian chess grandmaster. She was part of the gold winning women's team at the 45th Chess Olympiad in 2024. She has won three bronze medals in the Women's World Chess Championship, in 2012, 2015 and 2017. Harika was honored with the Arjuna Award for the year 2007–08 by the government of India. In 2016, she won the FIDE Women's Grand Prix event at Chengdu, China and rose up from world no. 11 to world no. 5 in FIDE women's ranking. In 2019, she was awarded the Padma Shri for her contributions towards the field of sports.

Early life

Harika Dronavalli was born in a Telugu family to Ramesh and Swarna Dronavalli on 12 January 1991 in Guntur, Andhra Pradesh. 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.

Personal life

She married Hyderabad-based Karteek Chandra in August 2018. She gave birth to her first child on 24 August 2022 after having played at the 2022 Chess Olympiad, where the Indian women won the bronze medal, while in her ninth month of pregnancy.

Achievements

Awards

• 2003: Woman International Master (WIM) title - youngest woman international master, Asian continent
• 2004: Woman Grandmaster (WGM) Title - youngest woman grandmaster, Asian continent
• 2007: International Master (IM) title
• 2011: Grandmaster (GM) title - Second woman to become Grandmaster in India
• 2016 and 2017: Chess Player of the Year by The Times of India (TOISA Annual Awards)
• 2017: Featured by Verve magazine as one of the top 40 popular women sportspersons of the year
• 2019: Awarded Padma Shri on 26 January (Republic Day)

Competitions

• 2000 — World youth chess championship U-10 girls — Oropesa del Mar, Spain — Silver medal
• 2001 — World youth chess championship U-12 girls — Spain — Silver medal
• 2001 — Asian under-12 girls chess championship — Bikaner — Silver medal
• 2002 — Asian U-18 girls Chess Championship — Bikaner — Gold medal
• 2002 — Asian under-12 girls chess championship — Iran — Gold medal
• 2002 — World youth chess championship U-12 girls — Greece — Bronze medal
• 2003 — Commonwealth Chess Championship — Mumbai — Silver medal
• 2003 — Asian Women's Chess Championship — Calicut — Silver medal
• 2003 — Asian Women's Team Chess Championship — Jodhpur — Individual gold medal on fourth board
• 2004 — Commonwealth U-18 girls chess championship — Mumbai — Gold medal
• 2004 — Asian U-18 girls chess championship — Iran — Bronze medal
• 2004 — World youth championship U-14 girls — Greece — Gold medal
• 2005 — Asian junior girls championship — Bikaner — Silver medal
• 2006 — World youth championship U-18 girls — Batumi — Gold medal
• 2006 — Commonwealth Women's Chess Championship — Mumbai — Gold medal
• 2007 — 2nd Asian indoor games — Macau — Rapid chess individual women, gold medalClassical chess individual women, bronze medalRapid chess team, gold medalClassical chess team, silver medalBlitz chess team, silver medal
• 2007 — Asian zonal women chess championship — Bangladesh — Gold medal
• 2007 — Commonwealth Women's Chess Championship — New Delhi — Gold medal
• 2008 — World junior girls chess championship — Turkey — Gold medal
• 2008 — Asian women team chess championship - Captain — Visakhapatnam — Team, silver medalIndividual silver medal on top board
• 2009 — Asian women team chess championship - Captain — Kolkata — Team, silver medal Individual gold medal on top board
• 2009 — 3rd Asian Indoor Games — Vietnam — Women individual rapid chess, bronze medalTeam blitz chess, bronze medalTeam rapid chess, bronze medal
• 2010 — Commonwealth Women's Chess Championship — New Delhi — Gold medal
• 2010 — 16th Asian Games - Women's individual — Guangzhou — Bronze medal
• 2011 — 2011 Women grandmaster chess tournament — Hangzhou — Scored 5.5/9 securing her third GM norm, conferred by the 82nd FIDE Congress 2011 in Kraków
• 2011 — Asian Women's Chess Championship — Iran — Gold medal
• 2011 — Commonwealth Women's Chess Championship — South Africa — Silver medal
• 2012 — Women's World Chess Championship — Khanty-Mansiysk — Bronze medal
• 2012 — Asian Women's Team Chess Championship — China — Team, bronze medal
• 2012 — 40th Chess Olympiad — Istanbul — Team, fourth place
• 2012 — Women's Team Chess Championship — Turkey — Individual, silver medal
• 2014 — Asian Women's Team Chess Championship — Iran — Team standard format, silver medalIndividual gold medalTeam rapid format, silver medal
• 2015 — Women's World online blitz Championship — Rome — Gold medal
• 2015 — Women's Asian Rapid Chess Championship — UAE — Bronze medal
• 2015 — Women's World Team Chess Championship — Chengdu — Individual second board, Silver Medal
• 2015 — World Women's Chess Championship — Sochi — Bronze medal
• 2015 — FIDE Women Grand Prix — Sharjah — Bronze medal
• 2016
• 2016 — FIDE Women's Grand Prix — Chengdu — Gold medal
• 2016 — Asian Women's Team Chess Championship — UAE — Individual rapid format, gold medalIndividual classical format, silver medal Team rapid format, bronze medal
• 2017 — Women's World Chess Championship — Tehran — Bronze medal
• 2019 — FIDE Grand Swiss Tournament 2019 — Douglas, Isle of Man — Highest Placed Female (Women's Trophy)
• 2020 — FIDE Online Chess Olympiad 2020 — Online — Gold Medal
• 2021 — Women's World Team Chess Championship — Sitges — Silver medal
• 2021 — FIDE Online Chess Olympiad 2021 — Online — Bronze medal
• 2022 — 44th Chess Olympiad — Chennai — Bronze Medal
• 2024 — World Blitz Team Chess Championship — Astana — Team Silver, Individual Gold on Board 6
• 2024 — 45th Chess Olympiad — Budapest — Gold Medal
• 2024 — Women's World Rapid Chess Championship — New York — 6th (2nd Without tiebreaks)
• 2025 — Women's World Cup — Batumi — Top 8
• 2026 — Grenke Freestyle Chess Open — Grenke — Highest Placed Women
• 2026 — World Rapid Team Chess Championship — Hong Kong — Silver Medal
• 2026 — Asian Women's Rapid Chess Championship — Hong Kong — Gold Medal
• 2026 — Asian Women's Blitz Chess Championship — Hong Kong — Gold 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.