Harika Dronavalli: Our team’s ambition is definitely to have a podium finish

– Harika, you have just won a beautiful game against Nana Dzagnidze of Georgia. Please tell us about it.

– At some point I think Black maybe equalized, I don’t know. I didn’t want to exchange pieces, and I played 18. f3. I was not very happy with my position so I decided to create some counter play and I played 25. b4 – some kind of completely unclear chess. At some point I gave my two pawns just to block rook on b6, and I think Black was fine. But then I think she played a few inaccurate moves which gave me an easier play. So I think at some point she helped me. Nana played two or three bad moves and immediately I got a better position and slowly I converted.

– And what happened in the match in general?

– I think the fourth board was completely winning, she had piece up for two pawns with no compensation for it, so I felt like if I manage not to lose we might win the match but then it turned out that I won but the fourth board lost with one-move blunder. It was unlucky for us but it is ok. We have played with a higher seed and we drew. So we will just try to do our best in the next rounds.

– What are your ambitions for this event?

– I want to try my best and to do well for my team.

– And what is you team’s ambition?

– Our team’s ambition is definitely to have a podium finish. But we don’t want to think about it, we just want to play game by game.

– What will be your next tournament?

– Next is unclear. Some open tournaments, not official events.

– Thank you and good luck!