Harika’s moment to cherish
Hyderabad: It should go down as one of the red-letter days for Indian chess. Seeded fourth, the Dronavalli Harika-led Indian team won their first-ever silver medal in the FIDE World women team chess championship at Sitges, Spain, on Saturday. India lost to formidable Russia 0-2 in the final. Harika described this achievement as her best […]
Hyderabad: It should go down as one of the red-letter days for Indian chess. Seeded fourth, the Dronavalli Harika-led Indian team won their first-ever silver medal in the FIDE World women team chess championship at Sitges, Spain, on Saturday. India lost to formidable Russia 0-2 in the final. Harika described this achievement as her best amongst her results.
After winning the first 2.5-1.5, the Russians posted a 3-1 victory with wins over Tania Sachdev and Mary Ann Gomes in the second set. But the highlight of the final was Harika’s spectacular win over Aleksandra Goryachkina to draw level after Alexandra Kosteniuk defeated young R Vaishali on the second board in the first set.
But this magnificent performance made Harika very emotional. It was a long-awaited goal for this 30-year-old Hyderabad Grandmaster. Tweeting after the final, Harika said: “Feeling very emotional today, having achieved one of my long-awaited goals, of winning a team medal in the Olympiad or World Team’s!!! I first played a team event in 2004 and in the events since then, it has been a roller-coaster and on numerous occasions, we have been close but somehow we never achieved the podium finish. Some of these chances left me very dejected and I cried multiple times whenever we left empty-handed. I have been longing for this moment ever since and I am extremely proud that we won the first ever silver medal for Team India and I hope this historic occasion is the start of many to come. I would rank this achievement amongst my best results ever!’’
Harika, who won the junior world chess crown in 2008 and won bronze medals in the world championship, thanked the Indian chess federation (AICF) for all the support leading to the event. “In a team competition to be successful, it needs everyone to deliver and that exactly happened in this event. Every round somebody would stand up and scored the crucial point….’’
Former world champion Viswanathan Anand said in a tweet: “Congrats Team India on silver. Was a strong performance.” An elated coach N Ramaraju hailed Harika’s fine show in the World tournament. “It is an incredible performance. Harika has emerged as one of the finest chess players from the country. She is a very good positional player and over the years, she has become one of the best in the field. She is confident and works very hard,’’ said Ramaraju, who has been training this Grandmaster from the age of eight.
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