Harika Dronavalli, sitting at Doha Airport in between two flights that lastly brings her dwelling, is taking a visit down reminiscence lane recounting the a number of Olympiads that she’s been to and skilled solely heartbreak. Her tryst with the Olympiads began early on the picturesque metropolis of Calvià on the Spanish island of Mallorca. She’s simply 13 years previous at this stage, a prodigy within the truest sense of the phrase. However she’s scared. That was 20 years in the past. Harika has been to each Olympiad since then. In these twenty years, she’s seen the nation develop into a chess powerhouse, however by no means make it to the highest of the rostrum. Till Sunday.
In an interview with The Indian Categorical, she recounts her Olympiad recollections:
How unusual was it for you that you simply began enjoying at Olympiads 20 years in the past, when a few of your teammates weren’t even born. However now you’re sharing a gold collectively?
Harika Dronavalli: I’ve seen generations change. I’m a type of ladies gamers who’ve been enjoying for therefore a few years, in any respect these Olympiads with out fail. Earlier earlier than us, that they had a sure degree then it received higher. And it saved rising. However we had been nonetheless not making it on the podiums. Then final yr, we had a podium end finally with bronze. Then this yr we have now gold. Now we have a era now of children who’ve began their Olympiad profession with a gold. Now the problem is to remain there. Undoubtedly glad that I’ve seen this shift. I’m extraordinarily completely satisfied that considered one of my desires to be on high of the rostrum with the ladies’s crew was fulfilled. I all the time believed that the Indian ladies’s crew may do it and I by no means understood why we couldn’t make it.
Are you able to distinction this Olympiad with the primary Olympiad you went to?
Harika Dronavalli: I used to be actually scared and frightened. It was the primary time I had gone to a match alone as a 13-year-old. I used to be underneath a lot strain. The captain and teammates again then had been very nice they usually made loads of efforts to make me really feel snug. I keep in mind I made 9 attracts again then as a result of the captain was telling me that simply handle and be secure in your board, it’s high-quality. That’s how my Olympiad expertise began. Again then it was 14 rounds lengthy, and we used to play rather well for 10 rounds after which eleventh spherical onwards it will simply change, perhaps due to the period of the match and so forth. Then I’ve seen India lacking out by small margins in nearly all of the tournaments. In some unspecified time in the future, you need to command! You’ll be able to’t simply be underdogs and play properly! At these tournaments, it is advisable to stand up after one set again. On the final two Olympiads we began as the highest seeds. It makes an enormous distinction, you might be extra assured. As a nation in chess, we have now grown.
You’ve gotten mentioned you felt a slight guilt coming into the final spherical since you had by no means misplaced three video games in a crew occasion earlier than this
Harika Dronavalli: Although I had three losses, I additionally had three wins. It’s not a spot I’d be. Generally I’m very stable, there will probably be attracts and perhaps one recreation right here and there goes mistaken. It was onerous on me as I’m not used to this case. This has by no means occurred within the final 20 years. The rationale was that for the previous month I’ve been going loopy with issues on the household entrance like planning my daughter’s birthday. So I couldn’t put together. Someplace I wasn’t utterly assured coming into the match. The strain took a toll on me. However then I discovered learn how to deal with it. In robust instances, I used to be getting messages from shut mates who had been telling me that with out me the crew can not get it achieved. They had been telling me that I will probably be there when the essential time comes. And I’m glad I used to be there within the final spherical.
Your daughter was delivered very near the Olympiad in 2022, proper? You would not even play through the closing spherical as a result of the docs had warned you?
Harika Dronavalli: Final time, I’d have performed within the final recreation (in opposition to USA). However with out me the crew had received the penultimate spherical 3-1. In the meantime, the docs had instructed me very strongly that I’ve to ship in Chennai itself if I don’t go dwelling. The fear was, in case I sit on the board and one thing occurs, I’ve to surrender my level and it may change the stability of the match. That’s why we determined that I cannot be on the board. Now as a result of issues didn’t work within the closing spherical (league leaders India misplaced 1-3 to the seventh seeded crew, USA, to finish with bronze)there has all the time been that thought that perhaps we should always have tried it. All of us felt that we may have taken an opportunity. However all of these recollections have vanished with this one gold.
The place would you rank this gold?
Harika Dronavalli: It’s positively one of the crucial necessary for me as a result of individually I’ve carried out in all occasions like world championships. However in crew occasions, I by no means understood why the Indian ladies’s crew couldn’t make it to the highest. At each occasion I am going pondering we will make it. This occasion for me is emotional as a result of we succeeded in what I consider.