Ranked 1st in India, 3rd in Asia and 17th in the world in FIDE rankings, Grand Master Vantika Agrawal last year became a gold medal winner in the Chess Olympiad in which India and Russia were the joint winners. 

Woman International Chess Master at the age of 14, and gold medal winner at the age of 17, is a really astonishing thing to achieve at this young age, but this is how you will describe her incredible chess journey. From her very fast rise in the ratings to her consistent hard work as well as dedication, she is definitely on the fast road to being a great chess player.

This young girl has achieved a lot in this short time as her achievements are speaking for themselves and also she has been even awarded by Hon’ble Former President of India Shri Pranab Mukherjee as well as Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi Ji. Her crowning glory was the part of the Indian team for winning Olympiad gold for the first time ever. 

Grand Master Vantika Agrawal’s Successful Journey of Chess

Her journey of chess starts at a very early age as she won the gold medal in U-9 girls, Asian Schools Chess, 2011, Delhi. From there she has been winning one competition after the other.

Participating in Olympiad, Vantika was lucky to get a place on the Indian team. Her strategy proceeding into the competition was to just give her greatest performance and contribute as much as she could to the team. She did that pretty well by getting 3.5/4 in the league stage, where India ended first, taking down a robust Chinese squad.

As the Indian squad started into the playoffs, Vantika remained calm as well as confident. And when there was a tie in the final, all the players were happy and for Vantika it was really a dream come true. Even though it was online, but it was her first Olympiad. She even says that playing with her team has made her even more motivated.