Dronavalli Harika is an upcoming talent among young Indian chess players. This tremendous talent in chess was born on 12th January 1991 in the Guntur District in Andhra Pradesh. She learned to play chess at tender age of seven. She holds three prestigious titles one being the title of Grandmaster and the other two are Woman Grandmaster and International Master respectively.
With time she came to the limelight after registering her win in the Asian Games Under-10 Championships and Asian Games Under-12 Championships. In the year 2011 she won Asian Individual Women Chess Championship. She trains under NVS Raju and in July 2011 she achieved one of the rare feats by grabbing the Grandmaster title. And in doing so, she became the second Indian woman, after GM Koneru Kumpy, to receive such top honour.
Achievements and Honours Received by Dronavalli Harika
* 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
