Vaishali Rameshbabu becomes India's third female chess Grandmaster; inks history

Vaishali Rameshbabu scripted history on Saturday as she became only the third female Grandmaster from India. Also, she became part of the first brother-sister pair to be Grandmasters as her brother R. Praggnanandhaa had also earned the title in 2018.

Hyderabad: R.Vaishali inked history on Friday as she became the third woman from India to get the Grandmaster(GM) title clinching the highest title a chess players could aspire for. With the incredible feat, she joined GM Koneru Humpy and GM Dronavalli Harika.

Humpy earned the title in 2002 when she achieved just at the age of 15 and became world's youngest female player. Harika achieved the feat when she completed 2500 Elo points during the Llobregat Open tournament in Spain.

R.Vaishali also became India's 84th grandmaster by beating FM Tamer Tarik Selbes at the ongoing 4th Elllobregat Open 2023. The Chennai-based player has carved an illustrious career so far and the recent achivement established her as one of the best in the world. Only 41 female players have Grandmaster title as of now according to the FIDE Rating list December 2023.

Vaishali is not the only one from the family. Her brother R.Praggnanandhaa is also a Grandmaster and so with the achivement they have become the first brother-sister pair to become grandmasters across the globe. Vaishali is currently World no. 11 in live ratings and some more stellar performances from her might take her in the top 10.

Her solid performances in Xtracon Open 2019, 8th Fischer Memorial-Heraklion GM tournament 2022, Qatar Masters 2023 and FIDE Women's Grand Swiss 2023 helped her fulfill the norms required to become a GM. Her recent win over Tamer Tarik Selbes in the second round of the 4th Elllobregat Open as it took her ELO rating to 2501.5. Now, she will face Armenia no.3, GM Samvel Ter-Sahakyan (ARM, 2618) in the third round.

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