On December 1, 22 year-old R Vaishali from Chennai won her second round match at the IV El Llobregat Open in Spain, crossing 2,500 FIDE points in the process and becoming a chess Grandmaster. She has also qualified for the prestigious Candidates tournament in 2024 next year.
Apart from making history as India’s third female chess Grandmaster, she is also one half of the world’s only brother-sister Grandmaster duo with her brother Praggnanandhaa. Praggnanandhaa, who is 18 years old now, is a chess prodigy who became Grandmaster at the very young age of 12. In August 2023, he made the finals of the FIDE World Cup 2023, where he lost to Magnus Carlsen in the finals.
Read more about the Grandmaster duo here!