Harika Dronavalli

Some Lesser Known Facts About Harika Dronavalli

• Harika Dronavalli started playing chess at age five with her sister under her father’s guidance.

• She used to play friendly matches with one of her family friends and professional chess player Rohit Gogineni, whose father urged her to enter competitions.

• At her first national championship tournament as a seven-year-old, she was inspired by the winner Mary Ann Gomes holding the rolling trophy. She won a medal in her next national championship in the under-9 category.

• She has been active in professional chess since 1999.

  

• She left formal education to pursue her interest in the sport and according to her, extensive travelling and varied life experiences are good educators.

• She carries an electric pressure cooker and homemade masalas and likes to cook meals when she travels.

• She has the habit of journaling to set goals or manage her expenses.

• She follows a daily exercise routine to stay refreshed and focused.

• In 2016, she reached her career-best (up until the present) world ranking of 5.

• In 2019, she gave a speech about life lessons in her professional chess career at the TEDx event conducted at BITS Pilani.

  

• In 2022, she competed in the 44th FIDE Chess Olympiad in Chennai during her ninth month of pregnancy in which the Indian team secured a bronze medal.

  

• As of September 2024, she is at 608 ranking internationally and 43 in the national ranking.