It was a profitable month of working from home for Dronavalli Harika. Finishing runner-up at the Women’s Speed Chess Championship on Saturday made her richer by ₹9.28 lakh.
The superb performance has come as a huge morale-booster ahead of the World Cup, starting in Sochi, Russia, on July 10.
“I am glad I could do well in a strong tournament like Speed Chess, in which most of the best players took part,” Harika told The Hindu over phone on Monday.
“It is disappointing that I lost in the final to Hou Yifan, but it felt nice that I could put up a strong fight.”
She certainly did! Her Chinese opponent is the world’s second-strongest woman player of all time.
She went into the lead, fell behind considerably towards the end, but staged a splendid fightback.
Technical issues
Harika was troubled by technical issues during the final.
“I lost internet connectivity for a brief while following a power failure and that cost me a game. But, in online tournaments, one should be prepared for such problems,” said the World No. 9.
“It was an excellent tournament for me, as I was able to defeat some strong players like World blitz champion Kateryan Lagno and former World champion Alexandra Kosteniuk,” she said.
Looking ahead to the World Cup, she said she was just happy that she would be able to get back into a tournament hall once again.
“It is great to see that chess and the rest of the sporting world is returning to normalcy,” she said.
“My last tournament was in Switzerland in March last year. I got home just before the entire world went into lockdown.
“The last one year has not been easy, as I realised that chess need not always be the priority in life.”
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