Harika Dronavalli interview: ‘All the bad memories from past Olympiads vanished with this gold’ | Chess News

Harika Dronavalli, sitting at Doha Airport in between two flights that finally brings her home, is taking a trip down memory lane recounting the multiple Olympiads that she’s been to and experienced only heartbreak. Her tryst with the Olympiads started early at the picturesque city of Calvià on the Spanish island of Mallorca. She’s just 13 years old at this stage, a prodigy in the truest sense of the word. But she’s scared. That was 20 years ago. Harika has been to every Olympiad since then. In these two decades, she’s seen the country become a chess powerhouse, but never make it to the top of the podium. Until Sunday.
In an interview with The Indian Express, she recounts her Olympiad memories:
How strange was it for you that you started playing at Olympiads 20 years ago, when some of your teammates were not even born. But now you’re sharing a gold together?
Harika Dronavalli: I’ve seen generations change. I’m one of those women players who have been playing for so many years, at all these Olympiads without fail. Earlier before us, they had a certain level then it got better. And it kept increasing. But we were still not making it on the podiums. Then last year, we had a podium finish at last with bronze. Then this year we have gold. We have a generation now of kids who have started their Olympiad career with a gold. Now the challenge is to stay there. Definitely glad that I have seen this shift. I’m extremely happy that one of my dreams to be on top of the podium with the women’s team was fulfilled. I always believed that the Indian women’s team could do it and I never understood why we could not make it.
Can you contrast this Olympiad with the first Olympiad you went to?
Harika Dronavalli: I was really scared and worried. It was the first time I had gone to a tournament alone as a 13-year-old. I was under so much pressure. The captain and teammates back then were really nice and they made plenty of efforts to make me feel comfortable. I remember I made nine draws back then because the captain was telling me that just manage and be safe on your board, it’s fine. That’s how my Olympiad experience started. Back then it used to be 14 rounds long, and we used to play really well for 10 rounds and then 11th round onwards it would just change, maybe because of the duration of the tournament and so on. Then I have seen India missing out small margins in almost all the tournaments. At some point, you have to command! You can’t just be underdogs and play well! At these tournaments, you need to get up after one set back. At the last two Olympiads we started as the top seeds. It makes a huge difference, you are more confident. As a nation in chess, we have grown.
You have said you felt a slight guilt coming into the last round because you had never lost three games in a team event before this
Harika Dronavalli: Even though I had three losses, I also had three wins. It’s not a place I would be. In general I’m very solid, there will be draws and maybe one game here and there goes wrong. It was hard on me as I’m not used to this situation. This has never happened in the last 20 years. The reason was that for the past month I have been going crazy with things on the family front like planning my daughter’s birthday. So I couldn’t prepare. Somewhere I wasn’t completely confident coming into the tournament. The pressure took a toll on me. But then I figured out how to tackle it. In tough times, I was getting messages from close friends who were telling me that without me the team cannot get it done. They were telling me that I will be there when the crucial time comes. And I’m glad I was there in the last round.
Your daughter was delivered very close to the Olympiad in 2022, right? You could not even play during the final round because the doctors had warned you?
Harika Dronavalli: Last time, I would have played in the last game (against USA). But without me the team had won the penultimate round 3-1. Meanwhile, the doctors had told me very strongly that I have to deliver in Chennai itself if I don’t go home. The worry was, in case I sit on the board and something happens, I have to give up my point and it could change the balance of the match. That’s why we decided that I will not be on the board. Now because things did not work in the final round (league leaders India lost 1-3 to the 7th seeded team, USA, to end with bronze)there has always been that thought that maybe we should have tried it. All of us felt that we could have taken a chance. But all of those memories have vanished with this one gold.

Where would you rank this gold?
Harika Dronavalli: It’s definitely one of the most important for me because individually I have performed in all events like world championships. But in team events, I never understood why the Indian women’s team could not make it to the top. At every event I go thinking we can make it. This event for me is emotional because we succeeded in what I believe.