Dronavalli Harika, born 12 January 1991 (12--01-1991; age 20) of Guntur district, Andhra Pradesh, India achieved one of her dreams today as she became the second woman from India, after Koneru Humpy of the same state Andra Pradesh, to become a Grand Master (GM), following her fine display at the 1st Hangzhou Women’s Grandmasters Tournament in China, where she finished third with 5.5 points.
In the 1st Hangzhou Women’s Grandmasters Tournament in China Harika won two of her games and drew seven to remain undefeated in the round robin tournament in which the top ten women players in the world took part. The 20 year old Harika, who is a former world junior girls’ champion, already had 2 GM norms going into the tournament & achieved the final norm from Hangzhou to make her a GM! To become a GM one has to secure 3 GM Norms & cross the Elo 2500, which she has now as her July 2011 Elo is 2513!
Learned to play chess at age 7, Harika came to prominence winning the Asian Under 10 Championship and the Asian Under 12 Championship. In 2011 she won the Asian Individual Women Chess Championship! She had already bagged the titles of Woman Grandmaster (WGM in 2004) and International Master (IM in 2007) before. Her peak Elo is 2525 which she achieved in the November 2010 rating list!
Harika, who is a vegetarian, is the gold medal winner at this year’s Asian women’s championship in Iran, silver medal winner in the Commonwealth Championship in South Africa and bronze medal winner at last year’s Asian Games in Guangzhou! She had undergone special training at Pune at the chess camp by Kazakh GM Evgeny Vladimirov. Harika is supported by Pune - based sponsors Lakshya and Flame!
Dronavalli Harika's Achievements!
* She won the silver medal in the Women's category at the Commonwealth Chess Championship 2003 in Mumbai.
* She has won three World Youth Chess Championship titles: in 2004, she won the Girls Under 14 in Heraklio, Greece, and in 2006, she won the Girls Under 18 in Batumi, Georgia.
* In 2008, she took the Girl's title at the World Junior Chess Championship at Gaziantep, Turkey, winning with a point to spare.
* She was awarded the Arjuna Award in 2007.
* She won Bronze medal in 2010 Asian Games in Woman's individual rapid event.
* She reached quarterfinal stage of Women's World Chess Championship 2010.
* She achieved a rare feat to earn the Grandmaster title. She is the second Indian woman after Koneru Humpy to attain this top-most honour.
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