R Vaishali leaves behind tag of being ‘Praggnanandhaa’s sister’ after becoming India’s 84th Grandmaster

Reaching the pinnacle of chess’ pecking order — a Grandmaster — will also go a long way in liberating Vaishali from the tag of being ‘Praggnanandhaa’s sister’, as she has been referred to over the years.

Vaishali Rameshbaabu, Vaishali Rameshbaabu GM, Vaishali Rameshbaabu Grand Master, Praggnanandhaa, Brother and sister, Brother sister GM, Indian chess news, Chess news, Vaishali and Praggnanandhaa

Vaishali after winning the FIDE Grand Swiss Tournament 2023 in November. Anna Shtourman

4 min readDec 4, 2023 11:31 AM IST First published on: Dec 3, 2023 at 04:00 AM IST

Late on Friday, playing at the IV El Llobregat Open tournament in Spain, Vaishali Rameshbabu defeated FM Tamer Selbes in a match that had much bigger implications. The victory nudged Vaishali’s rating points to over 2500, which marked her entry into the elusive Indian grandmaster club: current membership of 84. Vaishali also becomes a part of an even smaller group: Indian women to achieve the grandmaster title, which has just three members, Koneru Humpy and Harika Dronavalli besides Vaishali.

Reaching the pinnacle of chess’ pecking order — a grandmaster title — will also go a long way in liberating Vaishali from the tag of being ‘Praggnanandhaa’s sister’, as she has been referred to over the years. While it was Vaishali who first started playing the sport, it was her younger brother who started making waves on the chess scene, setting records like becoming the youngest international master in the world.

Now in the span of just over a month, Vaishali has achieved goals she had set for herself as a kid with the ease of someone ticking off things on a shopping list: she secured a spot at the prestigious Candidates Tournament by winning the ultra-competitive FIDE Grand Swiss tournament last month and now become a GM.

Also Read | R Vaishali’s childhood coaches reveal traits that made her stand out from young age, propelled her to GM rank

“For a phase in her career, when Pragg started doing well, it had a bit of a negative impact on Vaishali because of all the attention on Pragg. She was referred to as Pragg’s sister. But she’s a good player herself in her own right. So that was not a pleasant situation to be in. The fact that she has qualified for the Candidates and has become a grandmaster… she’s shown that she can stand on her own merits, that is very important for her as well,” says grandmaster RB Ramesh, who has been a coach and mentor for both siblings since a young age.

But as Ramesh points out, having a player like Praggnanandhaa at home also comes with its perks.

“They help each other during tournaments. They practice a lot at home. In recent times, Pragg has tried to help her with prep… giving her opening ideas and so on. It’s always good to have a strong player in the home helping you,” Ramesh had told The Indian Express last month.

While Vaishali reached the status of GM later than her younger brother, she had given an early indication of her chess credentials a decade back when Magnus Carlsen had come to Chennai to take on reigning champion Viswanathan Anand in the World Chess Championship.

Much before her brother Pragg defeated recently-dethroned world champion Magnus Carlsen in an online chess tournament and became a household name in the country, Vaishali was one of those kids who had defeated Carlsen in an exhibition game in 2013 — called a simul — that the Norwegian played against 20 Indian junior at the same time. Vaishali was just 12 at that stage.

Ramesh adds that the next big challenge for Vaishali would be next year’s Candidates.

“If she wins that, then she would play in the Women’s World Championships. She’s had success at other big events, like winning a medal at the FIDE Chess Olympiad. So now that is the only big target left,” he says.

Amit Kamath

Amit Kamath is Assistant Editor at The Indian Express and is based in Mumbai. He primarily writes on... Read More