Indian Chess Profile: Harika Dronavalli
Alexandra Kosteniuk's Chess Blog for Daily Chess News and Trivia (c) 2013
Hi everyone,
Indian chess is defined by two outstanding names. One is of course World Chess Champion Viswanathan Anand, and the other is World No. 2 among women, Koneru Humpy. Another Indian chess girl, D Harika, has done quite well in the recent past. Here's a nice profile that appeared in Sportstar recently. The profile is by P.K. Ajith Kumar.
At the women’s World Championship at Khanty Mansiysk in Russia last November, much of India’s focus was on Koneru Humpy. Though the highest rated in the field of 64 and one of the strongest favourites, she was knocked out in the second round. That left another Andhra Pradesh girl to carry the Indian hopes forward.
That girl, Dronavalli Harika, didn’t disappoint. She reached the semifinals, surprising quite a few. The semifinal berth in the World Championship was not just a morale booster, it also fetched her a ticket to the 2013-2014 Women’s Grand Prix series, which FIDE (the world chess governing body) is conducting to identify the challenger for the 2015 World championship.
The 22-year-old from Hyderabad had made her Grand Prix debut at Dilijan, Armenia, recently. She is only the second Indian to appear in the Grand Prix; Humpy, of course, was the first and she won the title in Dilijan too.
Though it wasn’t exactly a dream debut, Harika didn’t do too badly, finishing sixth and garnering 60 Grand Prix points. “I could have done better, but for the winning positions I messed up in two of my games — against Humpy, in the very first round, and the current World champion Anna Ushenina later on,” says the World No. 20. “But the experience in Dilijan would help me prepare better for my three remaining Grand Prix tournaments – at Tashkent, Tbilisi and Erdenet.”
Read more »Labels: dronavalli harika, koneru humpy, p k ajith kumar, Viswanathan Anand
Khanty-Mansiysk Women's World Chess Championship 2012 R2: Humpy Loses to Zhukova
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2012
Hi everyone,
Wednesday, November 14, witnessed 32 participants of the Women's World Chess Championship 2012 play the first game of the second round in Khanty-Mansiysk. There were fewer decisive games compared to the first round, and the reason is obvious – the strength gap between the players was much narrower.
Natalia Zhukova who brought down top seed Koneru Humpy.
Women's World Chess Champion Hou Yifan (China) beat Monika Socko (Poland). Another thriller produced Natalia Zhukova (Ukraine), who, also as Black, defeated the rating favorite Humpy Koneru (India). Zhao Zue (China) crushed Nino Khurtsidze (Georgia), Pia Cramling (Sweden) won against Irina Krush (USA), Harika Dronavalli (India) defeated Elina Danielian (Armenia), and Maria Muzychuk defeated the hero of the starting round Maritza Arribas Robaine (Cuba). The rest of the games were drawn.
Russian players Nadezhda Kosintseva, Tatiana Kosintseva and Olga Girya made draws against Lilit Mkrtchian (Armenia), Hoang Thanh Trang (Hungary) and Marie Sebag (France) respectively. There are two all-Russian pairs in the second round: Alisa Galliamova plays with Valentina Gunina, and Alexandra Kosteniuk faces Natalia Pogonina. These games also ended in draws, despite being the longest in the round.
Results:
Socko, Monika (POL) – Hou, Yifan (CHN) 0-1, Koneru, Humpy (IND) – Zhukova, Natalia (UKR) 0-1, Ushenina, Anna (UKR) – Muzychuk, Anna (SLO) draw, Zhao, Xue (CHN) – Khurtsidze, Nino (GEO) 1-0, Javakhishvili, Lela (GEO) – Lahno, Kateryna (UKR) draw, Kosintseva, Nadezhda (RUS) – Mkrtchian, Lilit (ARM) draw, Huang, Qian (CHN) – Cmilyte, Viktorija (LTU) draw, Sebag, Marie (FRA) – Girya, Olga (RUS) draw, Galliamova, Alisa (RUS) – Gunina, Valentina (RUS) draw, Cramling, Pia (SWE) – Krush, Irina (USA) 1-0, Hoang, Thanh Trang (HUN) – Kosintseva, Tatiana (RUS) draw, Harika, Dronavalli (IND) – Danielian, Elina (ARM) 1-0, Muzychuk, Mariya (UKR) – Arribas Robaina, Maritza (CUB) 1-0, Kosteniuk, Alexandra (RUS) – Pogonina, Natalija (RUS) draw, Zatonskih, Anna (USA) – Ju, Wenjun (CHN) draw, Stefanova, Antoaneta (BUL) – Zhu, Chen (QAT) draw.
The 8th Ugra Governor Cup starts on Thursday in Khanty-Mansiysk. This is a part of the Russian Cup series, the prize fund is 1 million 641 thousand roubles, which is slightly more than $50,000. More than 100 players from Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan already registered for the event, including Anton Korobov (2702), Nikita Vitiugov (2700), Alexey Dreev (2654) and Igor Kurnosov (2645). Evgenia Ovod (Russia) and Madina Davletbaeva (Kazakhstan), who already busted from the World Championship, will join the field as well. The tournament will run until November 24th.
Here are some nice chess games from the second round at the Khanty-Mansiysk Women's World Chess Championship 2012 with Chess King:
Labels: dronavalli harika, elina danielian, Hou Yifan, khanty mansiysk chess, koneru humpy, Monika Socko, women's world chess championship 2012
One day I hope to be World Chess Champion - Dronavalli Harika
Chess news and chess trivia blog (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2010
Find more photos of the talented Indian player Dronavalli Harika at www.chesspics.com. Hello Everyone,
Several interviews were conducted on the sidelines of the ongoing Women's World Chess Championship 2010 in Hatay, Turkey. Here is one with Dronavalli Harika of India who nearly made it to the semifinals.
“It would have been great to have 2 Indian and 2 Chinese players in semifinals.”
Anastasia Karlovich- What did you expect from the World Championship? Dronavalli Harika- To tell you the truth I didn’t expect anything because before the championship I had a very busy schedule. I had to play Olympiad then Asian games for India on the top board. For three months I was not at home, either I was playing in the tournaments or had training camps. So I didn’t have much time to work specially for the World Championship. I came here without any preparation, so I was just working 3-4 hours before the game and used to come and play. I was lucky not to play with the strongest opponents. It could be Alina Danielian but not Tatyana Shadrina, Pia Cramling instead of Maria Muzychuk or Aleksandra Kosteniuk instead of Ruan Lufei.
A.K- Did you have somebody who was helping you during the tournament? D.H- I didn't expect anything from this tournament, so there was no point to bring any second. But till the second round I had a friend with me – Meenakshi Subbaraman. She helped me a lot - I didn't need to do any work. For example she was cooking for me here. We had a rice cooker because I don’t eat meat at all.
A.K- Was it difficult to play with your compatriot in the first round? D.H- Yes it’s more difficult than to play with somebody unknown. Also she has 2230 elo now but two years ago she had almost 2400, so she is quiet strong. In the first game I felt tired and made a draw but decided to brace myself and won the second game.
A.K- How was the second match? It seemed you had won it quite easily? D.H- Yes I won both games. During the rest day after the first match I was preparing a new line for 7 hours. It happened in the game so it was easy for me to play and I won. The second game went good too. I was playing with white pieces for a draw. In one moment she played badly and lost again.
A.K- The third match was really nervous and was decided in Armageddon… D.H- I was almost winning the classic game with white against Maria Muzychuk but I missed the victory. In the knockout tournaments one game decides a lot. So it’s a pity I missed a good chance in the first game. I was playing black the second one and made a draw. I won the first rapid game and it usually means better chances for me to win the match. Consequently I was very disappointed with myself because I gave the chance to equalize the score in the second game. I also lost the first blitz game, so before the second blitz game I was thinking “I can not do like this, it’s my last chance now. I should do my best here.” So I tried really hard. I had an experience in Armageddon before and decided to choose black pieces. So I’ve got the worse position because of one stupid move in the opening. I was not paying much attention to the time, I was just playing the position. Suddenly I saw there were only 2 seconds on her clock. Then I just played quickly…
A.K- I`ve noticed that before the second blitz game and Armageddon you didn`t leave your board as usually other players do. You were sitting in the same pose and looked very concentrated. What were you thinking about during that time? D.H- I was trying to motivate myself, thinking that it’s my last chance to win and I have to do it, I should try my best. It worked out with Muzychuk but not with Ruan Lufei.
A.K- What happened with Chinese player? D.H- In the fourth round I felt a bit tired after the tie-break. I decided to play something unknown for her, something she wasn’t expecting from me and I’ve got very comfortable position. I was clearly winning. If I have 2500 rating I should win such positions! If I would have won that game I’m sure I would be in semi-finals. It would have been great to have 2 Indian and 2 Chinese players in the semifinals. It’s a pity I didn’t finish that match in a classical time because it seems Ruan Lufei plays very strong in tie-breaks. She won all of them.
A.K- Are you satisfied with your general result here? D.H- Yes I’m satisfied but also I’m a little bit upset. After coming so far, playing those tie-breaks it could have been a little bit better. Anyway I have many years to play and hope one day I'll win the World Championship. I also want to become a GM and already have 2 norms.
From Alexandra Kosteniuk's Also see her personal blog at
Labels: dronavalli harika, Women's World Chess Championship 2010
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