Harika Dronaveli Special | ‘Empty Minds’ and Bold Leaps: How a Veteran Cracked Freestyle Chess for the First Time | Chess news.

Just a week earlier, at the raucous Greinke Chess Festival in Karlsruhe, Germany, Harika took the women’s top prize in the Greinke Freestyle Open. In doing so, she became the first Indian to sell out in a format that strips away the safety net of opening theory, leaving players with nothing but their raw intuition.‘It was my first freestyle tournament’Freestyle chess, or Chess 960, is a format where the starting position of the pieces is random. For players who have spent decades memorizing thousands of variations on the Roy Lopez or Sicilian defense, this is a terrifying prospect. Harika, however, entered the fray with Zen-like detachment.“It was amazing, especially because it was my first freestyle tournament,” Harika told TimesofIndia.com in an exclusive interview. “I haven’t followed him much before. I didn’t know anything about him. I went in with a blank mind, that okay, whatever comes, I’ll have to accept it because it’s so new to me.”

For many elite GMs, the lack of control over the opening can be crippling. For Harika, though, that wasn’t the case. “I wanted to do well. But at the same time, I didn’t know it was too much to ask because I’d never played it. It was a pleasant surprise that it went really well. All of a sudden, I’m looking at chess in a different way.”Spectacular resultsThe Greinke Open quickly became a brutal proving ground against some of the best minds in the world. Harika’s run at the tournament included a stunning victory against American GM Onder Liang and a high-quality draw against the legendary Leon Aronen, considered by many to be the best in freestyle chess.“Since COVID, I haven’t played many open tournaments, and I haven’t been able to play many high-ranked players. It’s been a while,” Harika admitted. “So, it’s a good reminder for me too, and a good confidence booster. Like, you know, I can do good with them.”Beating a 2700-rated powerhouse like Liang and holding his own against Aronian serves a dual purpose. “It felt like I was back to what I always did. During and after COVID, I had a baby. Somehow, I couldn’t play a lot of Open tournaments. It took me back to my old days.”Unfiltered grindHowever, Germany’s path was full of uncertainty. Harika’s trip to Germany was a throwback to the solo travel days of his youth, complicated by shifting geopolitical tensions in the Middle East that had recently led to canceled flights across the region.“I booked my ticket with Qatar Airways much in advance. I wasn’t sure if I would arrive or what the situation was because the flights were on and off,” she recalled. “I went the day before so that if something went wrong, I would have enough time to somehow get to Germany.”

“I had to take a train from Frankfurt. I lost track of time, and then I had to find my way. The trains were late. It took about six to seven hours past midnight to get to this place. These things I haven’t done at all lately. We’ve gotten used to a certain comfort level where everything is organized.”Instead of being disappointed, Harika seemed to revel in the chaos as she admitted with a smile, “I enjoyed it. It felt like I had done this many times before, but we just lost touch with it. It was fun to be in those situations. It reminded me of my childhood days.”A festival of over 3,000 mindsThe Greinke Open is considered the world’s largest open chess tournament, with over 3,000 participants. The sheer scale of the event was a sensory overload.“It took me back to my global youth days. We used to see a lot of people playing, a lot of boards. It’s good to see so many chess-loving people and fans,” he said.Explaining how she managed to avoid all the noise from the big crowd during her plays, she added, “Usually, once the game starts for me, I’m completely out of place. It didn’t change anything for me on the board.”That ability to zone out was crucial, especially given the tournament’s punishing two-game-a-day schedule, a format Harika hadn’t touched in years.This was not a planned gap. I like to play in the open.’Since becoming a mother, Harika’s participation in tournaments has been more selective.With the 35-year-old playing her last Open tournament in Sharjah in 2024, many assumed her withdrawal from the Open section (where men and women compete together) was a conscious strategic choice. Harika made it clear that it was more about the natural flow of life than retirement from the open circuit.

She told the website, “It was not a planned gap. I like to play in the open. It happened one way or the other due to circumstances and situations. Maybe the priorities changed after becoming a mother, but it was not a conscious decision.”However, success in Germany has reignited the fire.“When I look back, I realize, ‘Oh, it’s been a long time since I played an Open tournament.’ I am always ready to play strong open tournaments. I really hope I get back to some of them this year,” he asserted.Understanding the “Chess960” puzzle with HarikaTo the uninitiated, Freestyle Chess (Chess960) may seem like a different game. With 960 possible starting positions, the book is thrown out the window by Move 1.How did Harika figure out positions on her first attempt that baffle even seasoned experts?

“I don’t think I have any advice like that,” she laughs. “Finally, we need to understand that we are chess players. I have been playing chess professionally for 26 years. Somewhere subconsciously, even if I didn’t believe it, I was a chess player. I just kept playing tricks on the board.It is not as difficult as we think. You just have to focus on what you know best, have an idea of ​​where to put the pieces and just go for it. I don’t know if it’s instinct or not, but it’s my level of understanding that advises me to do this. You have to believe it because you’ve worked for years.”Road to the World ChampionshipHarika now joins a strong field for the inaugural FIDE Women’s Freestyle World Championship. She will stand alongside Bibi Sarah Essaoubaifa, Dinara Wagner and Alva Norman as pioneers of this new era.“It’s good that they started doing this for women now,” Harika noted. “Earlier, freestyle for men was very common, but for women, there were no special tournaments. We ignored the format. Now that they are starting a serious world championship, that encourages us to focus on freestyle.”