Harika Dronavalli

The native form of this personal name is Dronavalli Harika. This article uses Western name order when mentioning individuals.

Harika Dronavalli (born 12 January 1991) is an Indian chess player who holds the FIDE title of Grandmaster (GM). She was part of the gold winning women's team at the 45th Chess Olympiad in 2024.^[1] 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.^[2] 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.^[3]

Harika Dronavalli
Country	India
Born	(1991-01-12) 12 January 1991 (age 34) Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, India
Title	Grandmaster (2011)
FIDE rating	2483 (June 2025)
Peak rating	2543 (November 2016)

Early life

Harika was born to Ramesh and Swarna Dronavalli on 12 January 1991 in Guntur where she attended Sri Venkateswara Bala Kuteer school.^[4] Her father works as a deputy executive engineer at a Panchayat Raj subdivision in Mangalagiri.^[5] 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.^[6] 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.^[7] Her elder sister, Anusha, married Telugu film director K. S. Ravindra.^[8]

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: Men international master
• 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)^[9]
• 2017: Featured by Verve magazine in the top 40 popular women sportspersons of the year
• 2019: Awarded Padma Sri on 26 January (Republic Day)

Competitions

Year	Competition	Location	Result
2000	World youth chess championship U-10 girls	Spain	Silver medal
2001	World youth chess championship U-12 girls	Spain
	Asian under-12 girls chess championship	Bikaner
2002	Asian U-18 girls chess championship	Bikaner	Gold medal
	Asian under-12 girls chess championship	Iran
	World youth chess championship U-12 girls	Greece	Bronze medal
2003	Commonwealth women chess championship	Mumbai	Silver medal
	Asian women chess championship	Calicut
	Asian women team chess championship	Jodphur	Individual gold medal on fourth board
2004	Commonwealth U-18 girls chess championship	Mumbai	Gold medal
	Asian U-18 girls chess championship	Iran	Bronze medal
	World youth championship U-14 girls	Greece	Gold medal
2005	Asian junior girls championship	Bikaner	Silver medal
2006	World youth championship U-18 girls	Georgia	Gold medal
	Commonwealth women chess championship	Mumbai
2007	2nd Asian indoor games	Macau	Rapid chess individual women, gold medal Classical chess individual women, bronze medal Rapid chess team, gold medal Classical chess team, silver medal Blitz chess team, silver medal
	Asian zonal women chess championship	Bangladesh	Gold medal
	Commonwealth women chess championship	New Delhi
2008	World junior girls chess championship[10]	Turkey
	Asian women team chess championship - Captain	Visakhapatnam	Team, silver medal Individual silver medal on top board
2009	Asian women team chess championship - Captain	Kolkata	Team, silver medal Individual gold medal on top board
	III Asian Indoor Games	Vietnam	Women individual rapid chess, bronze medal Team blitz chess, bronze medal Team rapid chess, bronze medal
2010	Commonwealth women chess championship	New Delhi	Gold medal
	16th Asian Games - Women's individual chess category	Guangzhou	Bronze medal
2011	2011 Women grandmaster chess tournament[11]	Hangzhou	Scored 5.5/9 securing her third GM norm, conferred by the 82nd FIDE Congress 2011 in Kraków[12]
	Asian women chess championship	Iran	Gold medal
	Commonwealth women chess championship	South Africa	Silver medal
2012	World women's chess championship	Khanty-Mansysk	Bronze medal
	Asian women team chess championship	China	Team, bronze medal
	Women chess Olympiad	Turkey	Team, fourth place
	World women team chess championship	Turkey	Individual, silver medal
2014	Asian Women Team Chess Championship	Iran	Team standard format, silver medal Individual gold medal Team rapid format, silver medal
2015	World women's online blitz championship	Rome	Gold medal
	Asian rapid women chess championship	UAE	Bronze medal
	World women team chess championship	China	Individual second board, silver medal
	World women's chess championship[13]	Sochi	Bronze medal
	FIDE Women Grand Prix	Sharjah
2016	FIDE women grand prix	Khanty Mansiysk	Fifth
	FIDE women grand prix	Chengdu	Gold medal
	Asian women team chess championship	UAE	Individual rapid format, gold medal Individual classical format, silver medal Team rapid format, bronze medal
2017	Women's world chess championship[14]	Tehran	Bronze medal
2021	FIDE women's world team championship		Silver medal
	FIDE online chess Olympiad 2021	Online	Bronze medal
2024	Women's event at the 45th Chess Olympiad[15]		Won

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.