When Harika Dronavalli began her Chess Olympiad journey as a 13-year-old in 2004, she had just one aim: to put the women's team on the podium. Two decades later, her dream has been fulfilled as India won the women's gold, alongside the open gold, at the 45th Chess Olympiad in Budapest, Hungary. (More Sports News)
The 33-year-old had been targeting that gold medal for a long time but even as she would achieve great heights in her career individually, that team gold refused to come. However, India's second ever women Grand Master would not give up.
"The whole reason I started this was to put the women's team on the podium. I always felt, 'Why shouldn't we be there like other teams?'," Harika said.
At the 2022 Olympiad held in Chennai, India came agonisingly close to winning the championship, before an underwhelming finish handed them bronze. Harika was heartbroken. She admitted that missing out on gold in Chennai made her lose faith in her lifelong dream.
"Last time, we were so close but even then we ended up with the bronze medal. Somewhere, I would like to say that yes, I lost faith. I lost belief, thinking that maybe it is not going to happen with me in the team. I would not be a part of this historical team," she said candidly.
Disappointment and stress clouded Harika's decision-making after the 2022 Olympiad. She was in two minds about whether to continue or not, but that hunger for gold kept pushing her.
"There were many back-to-back team tournaments, which I felt were really stressful for me. I felt like okay, maybe it is time to step back a little and play individually, " Harika told OutlookIndia.
Harika did not want to get engaged in more team challenges as her performance would affect other members as well. In individual events, things would be different.
"For me, it is less pressure (in individual tournaments). It is my tournament, my wish, whatever happens would not affect others. But in a team event, it can affect others. That is why I have always been a solid player in team events, mainly because I'm always scared for the team and I always play controlled chess. So may be because of that, I felt there's enough stress and I need to step back a bit.
"I didn't think of it as the end, of course I wanted to win gold. But I felt at some point maybe I was exhausted playing too many tournaments; I just felt that the next generation can take over. It would be better for young girls to get more experience. So I tried to stay back, but it didn't turn out that way. Maybe it was destined to happen."
Now that 'destiny' and her teammates have helped Harika achieve her lifelong dream, the feeling is special.
"It is emotional. The girls (her young teammates) will not feel it because they have to compete for the next 20 years, but for me it is one beautiful memory."
The win was made even more special for Harika as this was her first Olympiad after the birth of her daughter Hanvika.
"It is even more special as the first medal I won (2022) was with my daughter in the tummy, and the second medal we won with my daughter in front of me. So this will be a special moment that will stay in my memory forever."
Harika was the among the senior players in the women's team which consisted of three youngsters. R Vaishali, 23, Vantika Agarwal, 22 and Divya Deshmukh, 18 were the young members of the team while Harika at 33 and Tania Sachdev, 38, provided experience to the five-member squad. Talking about guiding the youngsters in the team, Harika said that the new players are already quite experienced and deserve all the credit for their hard work.
"Kids nowadays are so smart, they also have a lot of experience. They play a lot of tournaments. Earlier, it was not easy to play so many open tournaments. So they are very experienced. I would not like to take any credit.
"It is completely their understanding and greatness that they managed to do that in pressure moments. But as senior players, yes, we (Harika and Tania Sachdev) would try to keep the team on a positive note. But all the credit goes to the youngsters, nothing to do with me or Tania."
Harika also believes that the women's chess scene has completely transformed, with a revolution well and truly in place even before this gold. "I think it already got revolutionised. Recently Vaishali became grandmaster after many years. So definitely it is a good start already. We already have Divya (Deshmukh) and Vantika (Agrawal) getting a lot of rating points. It has started already.
"A lot has improved. Before I came, S Vijayalakshmi had one board medal. She was the first Woman Grandmaster in India and since then, every generation has improved. Then (Koneru) Humpy and I entered and became GMs, so I think every generation got better. When you see a high target, things will keep getting better and better. The next generation will take it to even bigger highs."
Does Harika have another medal in sight or will that be it for her? "I really don't know," she says.
"I think it is too many emotions right now. It is just a good feeling to finish in a gold medal team. Maybe... I don't know what will happen after two years. But right now if you ask me my feelings, I am like 'Okay. Enough of stress; maybe I can concentrate on my individual events'.
"I don't want to be 100% sure and then come back and play. So I don't know what will happen after two years. I am a person who is content with the smallest things, so I am okay even if it ends here."
