Inside Harika Dronavalli's toughest decision

By Jyotsna Bhushan

"Almost like giving up a medal on my own". That's how Harika Dronavalli describes her decision to sit out the 2026 Chess Olympiad, a tournament that she has played and shined in for many years. Having been part of India's historic Olympiad gold-winning teams, Harika explained why she chose to step back from team chess after 23 years, on her own terms, and what still keeps her going.

Asked directly about not being part of the team, Harika didn't reach for regret. She described weighing practicality against something harder to name, like the pull of what would look sensible on paper against what actually felt right.

It was solely my decision, which came from my heart, from my instinct. Maybe like practically it would be nice to play and win a medal, but I just felt more than practicality, I wanted to do something from my heart.

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Team events, she explained, carry a weight that individual tournaments don't. It isn't only the chess, but it's the responsibility of knowing your result affects four other people, and the accumulated toll of doing that, event after event, for two decades.

It might look simple, like to play one tournament, but in all these years, there are a lot of emotions, energies and so many things that you experience.

After the emotional high of finally winning Olympiad gold with the team in 2024, something in her settled.

I felt that's it. This is what I wanted. I achieved it, and I wanted to keep it like that.

Harika in tears after winning the gold in the 2024 Olympiad

Making room, not stepping away

Harika was careful to frame the decision as generosity rather than fatigue. She pointed to the strength of the squad coming up behind her, which includes players like Savitha Shri, who she believes will bring exactly the hunger the team needs right now. "I'm very sure she would have more fire", Harika said, "and would be more happy to be part of the team and enjoy and try to do her best. So why not? I just felt it's enough".

She was equally clear about what this isn't. "It's not like I'm retiring", she said, when Sagar noted how strange the statement would have sounded from a player with two team Olympiad golds to her name. The step back is specifically from the intensity of team championships and the Olympiad, and events like it, rather than from competitive chess altogether. "Where a lot of emotions and energy are involved, I would like to take a back seat", she said. "At least that's the reason for me to step down from it".

Even acknowledging what she was giving up, she didn't flinch from naming it plainly: with Humpy, Vaishali and Divya anchoring the squad, another gold medal is well within reach, which would be a medal she now won't be part of winning, but she believed in the immense talent and grit of the squad.

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Almost like giving up a medal on my own. It was not easy. I don't know if it's a great decision or a bad decision, but I know that I am giving up. I am happy to take that call on my own terms.

Team India at the 45^th Chess Olympiad | Photo: Stev Bonhage

Indian Women's Team for this year's Olympiad | Photo: chess.com India

The door that stays open

The individual World Championship remains firmly on her radar. Asked whether that ambition was still alive, Harika didn't hesitate. "Of course, without that I wouldn't have continued", she said. "I think I still have a long way to go and that would be my ultimate goal". Her present focus, she said, is on getting back to her own strengths as a player first, with the World Championship pursuit to follow when the moment is right.

She also left space for circumstances to change. "You never know the future, you can't predict", she said of the team door specifically, adding that she'd step in again if she felt she was truly needed. But for now, the choice is to close this chapter while it still feels like a high point, rather than let it fade on its own.

Recently, Harika won first place at the Asian Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships

Two different lives

Team chess wasn't the only thing that had changed since Harika became a mother. Asked whether it's even possible to prepare as intensely as before with a young daughter to raise, she was candid.

It is not and it should not, actually. But luckily in my case it is possible only because of the support system I have. Be it my parents, my grandmother, my husband. Even my daughter is so understanding. If I tell her I have this tournament and I will come back later, she says, okay Amma. If I tell her I have a tournament and I will come back later, she would understand it already.

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That support, she said, has reshaped how she moves through her days. "I am living two completely different lives", she said, describing a routine built around strict boundaries that includes a fixed block of time for chess, then a full switch to being present for her daughter, taking her out, teaching her things. The contrast, she admitted, can be almost comic.

It is so funny. On one hand, I will be checking what all to buy for her, selecting her dresses and all, and on the other side I'll be checking important chess files.

But beneath the humour is something she takes seriously: a deepened sense of gratitude toward everyone who makes both lives possible.

I think more than before, I show more gratitude now in life, because I understand the value of what they are doing for me a lot more, especially for my daughter. As a mom, your child becomes so important, and when they are doing so much for her and me, it just means a lot more.

I want to make them proud, I want to make their hard work meaningful, and I want the time that my daughter and I miss to be meaningful too.

Harika and her husband, Kartik, who has always been incredibly supportive

On the challenging aspect of juggling motherhood and the chess world, Harika says:

As a mom, you feel guilty for not spending more time with her, and then I try to compensate for that as much as possible. So literally, I would be living chess as a player, and then I would go to her and be that strict mom trying to check her schedules, trying to teach her discipline also.

She also mentioned that playing chess now has its own perks, as it rearranges your priorities.

If things went wrong earlier (chess-wise), it used to be the end of the world. We used to think, oh my god, how could I lose that, but now even if I have a tough phase or bad tournaments, with one smile from my daughter, it doesn't matter whether I win or lose. She will be like, "Amma, when are you coming back home?".

On the chess side of that split life, Harika pointed to a small, tight circle she currently works with consisting of Praneeth Vuppala and Rajarshi Kumar Singh, describing the arrangement less as formal but more as a shared, motivated working relationship among players from the same city. "It is boring when you have to work alone", she said. "It is much nicer to work among each other." Having them around, she added, helps her protect her focus on the days that matter, rather than letting the pull of other responsibilities take over. "It is nicer to see chess these days in a different light".

Twenty-three years, one constant

It's important to note how incredible Harika's team record actually is. She played through Asian Championships, World Team events, and ten consecutive Olympiads without ever pulling out, including competing at an Asian Nations Cup just fifteen days before her own wedding in 2018, and playing a full Olympiad campaign in her ninth month of pregnancy in 2022.

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Sagar Shah, reflecting on that history in the interview, noted how much stability her presence gave the team over the years. A player who could hold her own against anyone, on any board, in any tournament. Hearing it summed up that way, Harika admitted, caught her off guard emotionally. "I had tears in my eyes, which I'm trying to control", she said. "It's a journey that I would want to be remembered like this".

For a player who has spent more than two decades carrying the weight of team chess for India, that may be the most fitting way to leave it, not fading out, but walking away with a gold medal in hand, on her own terms, with her eyes still set on one goal left to chase.

Check out the full interview here:

Video by ChessBase India Interviews

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