Hyderabad girl Harika Dronavalli has won the bronze medal in world chess championship by defeating 64 top women chess players in Tehran and arrived at the airport. Though she is a chess player of world class and also won an international award, but there was none to receive her at the airport, like cricketers. There was only her proud parents to receive her at the airport.
Chess is a sport often underestimated in India. It is a sport that demands extreme levels of physical fitness, training and dedication. Same has been the case with Harika. She prepared meticulously for the World Championship that was held in Tehran from 11 February to 5 March 2017. The compulsory wearing of the hijab didn't discourage her since becoming a World Champion was her dream since childhood and she wanted to fulfil it at all costs. With her team of coaches, she prepared not only different opening schemes, worked on calculation and tactics, studied possible endgames, but also ensured that physically she was as fit as possible. The World Championship was a knockout event. The margin of error in such formats is extremely low. One error and you are sent packing.
With dogged determination and unparalleled levels of fighting spirit, Harika won the hearts of millions of chess fans all around the world. She was very near to winning the semi-final against Chinese Tan Zhongyi. A last minute error was the end of the road for Harika in the tournament.
Although the loss was depressing, one thing that everyone would perhaps agree upon is that Harika performed exceedingly well to win bronze medal in this 64-player knockout event. She won all her matches in the high pressure tie-breaks, ousting top players in the world like Dinara Saduakassova, Sopiko Guramishvili and Nana Dzagnidze.
This is Harika's third bronze medal at the World Championship level. The first two were in Khanty-Mansiysk in 2012 and Sochi in 2015. Harika has won the World Juniors in 2008, Commonwealth women's title in 2010, Asian Championship in 2011 as well as World Online Blitz Championship in 2015. She received the Arjuna Award in 2008.
Chess is perhaps one of the very few sports in which India has a host of dominating players like five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand, and Pentala Harikrishna in the men's section, and Koneru Humpy and Dronavalli herself in the women's section.
Thanks to these gems as well as a number of youngsters, experts all around the world have started to predict that India will be a powerhouse of chess – just like what Russia is currently – in the years to come. Yet when Harika came home to Hyderabad, after a successful tournament, she was greeted on the airport by only her parents. There was no mad rush to meet her, no one waiting with garlands.
Why was it the case? Why do we all burst into wild celebrations when our cricketers return from a successful series, but choose to stay indifferent when someone like Harika does the country proud in a sport that is played by 605 million people around the world?
