International Master, Vantika Agrawal’s fascination for chess started during the mandatory zero period sports club at her school. The Noida girl was part of the five-member women’s team that bagged gold at the recently concluded 45th FIDE Chess Olympiad in Budapest, Hungary.

The Indian contingent scripted history by winning team gold medals in both men’s and women’s competitions. Being India’s fourth board star, the 21-year-old won individual gold for board 4.

Dubbed as the ‘Golden Girls’ of India, Vantika was part of the women’s team along with Harika Dronavalli, R Vaishali, Divya Deshmukh, and Tania Sachdev.

Recalling her journey, Vantika, an alumni of Noida based Amity International School, said that it started at the age of 7. “In our school it was mandatory for students to play a sport during the zero period. My elder brother and I chose chess and were soon fascinated by it. Looking at our interest, our parents enrolled us in a chess academy. Soon, I started participating in the local chess tournaments,” said Vantika, who clinched her first gold at the tender age of 8 years.

Hailing from a family of Chartered Accountants, Vantika, who is B Com (Hons) from Shri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC), New Delhi, is India’s third-ranked women’s player with an Elo rating of 2428.

Talking to The Statesman, Vantika said that she had promised herself to return with a gold medal this time. “It’s only when you really want to win, you win more. I had told myself that I will not come back without winning a gold medal. Even during the tournament, some things were not working out well. But, in the end everything went in my favour.”

“In the world of sports, it’s not that you keep on winning all the time. Downfalls are bound to happen at some point. However, it’s only persistent practice that keeps us going,” she said.

Talking about her nail biting match during the seventh round against grandmaster Bella Khotenashvilli, Agrawal said that she was under a lot of pressure after having won six games already. “There was a lot of pressure. The game versus Bella Khotenashvili was very important. Even though I could feel the time pressure, I didn’t crumble under it and managed to register a win. I had a feeling in mind that things could go wrong, but at the same time I knew I had to help my team make a comeback. I desperately wanted to win the Gold for India.”

On Wednesday, the All India Chess Federation announced a cash award for the winners. AICF president Nitin Narang said that each player from the winning teams will receive Rs 25 lakh, while the coaches of the men’s and women’s teams, Abhijeet Kunte and Srinath Narayanan, will be rewarded with Rs 15 lakh each.

Talking about her plans to spend the award money, Vantika said that she wants to invest in improving her game further. This was Vantika’s second stint at the Olympiad, the first being in Chennai during 2022 However, it was her first time playing in the senior women’s team.