Father quit job, pawned jewellery to fund chess dream: Olympiad-bound Savitha's story
Nineteen-year-old chess prodigy Savitha Shri has been selected for the Indian women's team for the 2026 Chess Olympiad, replacing veteran Harika Dronavalli. The story highlights her family's significant sacrifices to support her professional chess career.
Why it matters
The rise of young talent in Indian chess underscores the country's growing dominance in the sport and the personal dedication required to reach elite levels.
NEW DELHI: The last time the Indian women's team took part in the biennial Chess Olympiad, they won gold. The team consisted of Harika Dronavalli, Rameshbabu Vaishali, Divya Deshmukh, Vantika Agrawal, and Tania Sachdev. Two years have passed since that Budapest conquest, and India has now named its men's and women's squads for the 2026 edition in Samarkand, Uzbekistan. The name missing from the list took almost everyone by surprise. It was Harika Dronavalli.Confirming her decision to skip this year's Olympiad, Harika conveyed to TimesofIndia.com that she had already achieved what she wanted from the team event, a gold medal, and that her focus going forward would shift to individual tournaments.Meanwhile, her place has gone to someone 15 years younger than her. It is Savitha Shri, now 19, from Chennai."She's so happy to participate.
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