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Women Chess Players make the Country proud: At FIDE Women’s World Cup 2021

The game of chess we know today has been around since the 15th century where it became popular in Europe. Popularly known as the game of war and kings, chess teaches patience, critical thinking, strategy and operative functioning. The moment the term “chess” comes to our mind it immediately flashes an image of two men sitting opposite to each other making all the intelligent moves. No wonder that the chess world is often perceived as male-dominated however, in spite of the underrepresentation of female players within today’s competitive chess world — women have played a central role in the development of the modern chess game.

Throughout history, women have contributed to the development of one of the most celebrated figures of feminine strength on the chessboard: the queen. Today, the queen is the most potent piece on the board, more agile and more dangerous than any of her male counterparts. The symbolic power of the chess queen today has also been seen in the Indian female chess players.

The 2021 FIDE World Cup was a 106-player knockout that took place in Krasnaya Polyana, near Sochi, Russia from July 12 to August 3. The prize fund was almost $700k, with $50,000 for the winner, while the top three contenders also qualified for the 2022 Women’s Candidates Tournament. The event was very exciting for Indian chess fans as we had 4 queens taking part. So who were these Indian queens who despite not winning the championship, gave their best shots in Sochi and filled the nation with pride?

D. Harika – Dronavalli Harika is a leading Indian chess player. She came to prominence winning the World Youth Championships in the Under-14 and Under-18 categories. She has won the Commonwealth Women’s Championship three times in 2006, 2007 and 2010. She is the recipient of three World Youth Chess Championship titles. In 2008, she took the Girl’s title at the World Junior Chess Championship in Turkey. She was the winner of the Arjuna award in 2007. She won a Bronze medal in the 2010 Asian Games in Woman’s individual rapid event. In 2011 she won the Asian Individual Women Chess Championship 2011. Harika earned the Grandmaster title in July 2011.

However, the Indian challenge ended at the World Women Chess Championship with grandmaster D Harika bowing out following a defeat against former champion Alexandra Kosteniuk of Russia in the second set of tie-break games.

R. Vaishali – This women grandmaster is an Indian chess player from Chennai. She has won the Girls’ World Youth Chess Championship for Under-14s and Under-12s. Since 2016 she is a Woman International Master. As of October 2016, she is ranked second in India and world no. 12 girl U16-player

Though she did not win the tournament, her skills were excellent and well appreciated! The 20-year-old WGM has clearly made an impact on many young women players but she certainly has a long journey ahead of her!

Bhakti Kulkarni – The 27-year-old chess player from Goa won the Asian Junior Chess Championship. In 2012, she bagged the title of Woman Grandmaster and became Goa’s first Woman Grandmaster (WGM). In 2013, she was the first at the international women’s chess tournament in the Czech Republic. In 2016, she won the Asian Chess Women Championship. She participated twice in the Women’s Asian Team Chess Championship (2009, 2016) and won a bronze medal for India in 2009. Further, she won National Women Championship in 2018 in Jaipur and took home the title of International Master.

Padmini Rout – The Odisha-born started playing chess at the age of nine because of her father’s passion for the game and won her first national title at the age of 11 in 2005. In 2006, Rout was both the Indian under-13 girls champion and the Asian under-12 girl’s champion. Padmini Rout has been a part of the Indian women’s team at several World Chess Olympiads.

She was awarded the International Master title in 2015 and the Woman Grandmaster title in 2017. Rout was honoured with the Biju Patnaik Sports Award for the year 2007 and the Ekalavya Award in 2009. She won gold at the Asian Individual Women’s Championship in 2019. She recently led the Indian Women’s Team to a gold medal at the Asian Nations Online Chess Championship in October 2020.