| R Vaishali | |
| Full Name: | Rameshbabu Vaishali |
| Country: | India |
| Birth Date: | 21 June 2001 |
| Birth Place: | Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India |
| Grandmaster (2024) | |
| Peakrating: | 2506 (August 2024) |
| Fideid: | 5091756 |
Rameshbabu Vaishali (born 21 June 2001) is an Indian chess grandmaster.[1] [2] Vaishali and Praggnanandhaa are the first brother and sister to earn GM titles. They are also the first brother and sister to qualify for the Candidates Tournament.[3]
Vaishali was born in Chennai, Tamil Nadu on 21 June 2001. Her father, Rameshbabu, works as a branch manager at TNSC Bank, and her mother, Nagalakshmi, is a homemaker. Her younger brother R Praggnanandhaa is also a chess grandmaster.
Vaishali won the Girls' World Youth Chess Championship for Under-12s in 2012 and Under-14s in 2015.[4] In 2013, at age 12, she defeated future World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen in a simul competition that Carlsen held while in her hometown of Chennai for the World Chess Championship 2013.[5]
In 2016, she received the Woman International Master (WIM) title, and in October 2016, she was ranked second in India and World No.12 girl U16-player. At that time, she had an Elo rating of 2300.
She became a Woman Grandmaster (WGM) by completing her final norm in the Riga Technical University Open chess tournament in Riga, Latvia on 12 August 2018.[6]
Vaishali was the part of the gold medal-winning team[7] at Online Olympiad 2020, where India won its first ever medal.[8]
She received her International Master (IM) title in 2021. In 2022, Vaishali won the 8th Fischer Memorial, scoring 7.0/9 and winning her second Grandmaster norm.[9] [10] [11] [12]
Vaishali was invited to participate in the FIDE Women's Speed Chess Championship 2022, where she defeated the Women's World Blitz Chess Champion Bibisara Assaubayeva in the round of 16,[13] and compatriot Harika Dronavalli in the quarterfinals.[14] [15]
Vaishali played on Board 3 in the Women's section at the 44th Chess Olympiad at Mamallapuram, Chennai, in July-Aug 2022. The India women's team won the team bronze medal, and Vaishali won individual bronze for board 3.
Vaishali played in the Tata Steel Challengers 2023, scoring 4.5/14 and beating two 2600 rated GMs, Luis Paulo Supi and Jerguš Pecháč. She finished twelfth in the standings overall.[16]
In the Qatar Masters Open 2023, Vaishali received her final GM norm after finishing with 5/9 and a performance rating of 2609.[17] She also won the top women's prize in the tournament, after finishing with better tiebreaks (performance rating) than compatriot Divya Deshmukh.
Vaishali won the FIDE Women's Grand Swiss 2023 held in the Isle of Man by not losing a single game and scoring 8.5/11, thereby qualifying to compete in the Women's Candidates Tournament to be held in Toronto, Canada in 2024.[18] [19] She and her younger brother Praggnanandhaa became the first sister-brother duo to qualify for the respective Candidates.
In December, at the IV El Llobregat Open Tournament 2023 in Spain, Vaishali crossed the 2500 Elo rating threshold, thereby fulfilling all of the requirements for the Grandmaster title and becoming the third woman and 84th person in India to do so.[20]
On January 21, 2024, the India Chess Federation submitted a Grandmaster Title Application on behalf of Vaishali to the FIDE Qualification Committee, which administers FIDE titles.[21]