Chess: Vignesh and Visakh NR become India’s first brothers to become Grandmasters

Visakh and Vignesh become India's first brothers who are Grandmasters.

Vignesh NR (L) and Visakh NR. (Photo courtesy: ChessBaseIndia)

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India’s chess player Vignesh NR has become India’s 80th Grandmaster after he defeated Germany’s IM Ilja Schneider and won the 24th NordWest Cup 2023 at Bad Zwischenahn in Germany. The Chennai boy reached the milestone after crossing 2500 in the live ratings. Vignesh’s elder brother Visakh NR had become India’s 59th GM in 2019. Thus, Visakh and Vignesh become India’s first brothers who are Grandmasters.

Congratulating his brother on his outstanding feat, Visakh was quoted as saying by Chessbase India, “It’s really nice to see my brother finally made GM title requirements. Maybe it’s just the first step towards a higher level. We will be looking forward to improving more and playing good games and to impact positivity to the world.”

The Southern Railway employee immediately had to leave for his next tournament 8th Noisiel Open 2023 in France.

Vignesh earned his first GM-norm at Qatar Masters in 2015 at the age of 17 years. A little over one and a half years later, he scored his second GM-norm at 24th Abu Dhabi Masters in 2017. He secured his final GM-norm at 1st Gujarat GM Open 2018. A fourth GM-norm was scored at Asian Continental 2019 at Xingtai, China.