Vaishali Rameshbabu (born 21 June 2001) is an Indian

chess grandmaster Grandmaster (GM) is a title awarded to chess players by the world chess organization FIDE. Apart from World Champion, Grandmaster is the highest title a chess player can attain. Once achieved, the title is held for life, though exceptionally the t ...

. She emerged victorious in the Women's Grand Swiss Tournament 2023, securing qualification for the Women's Candidates Tournament 2024. She won the bronze medal at Women's World Blitz Chess Championship 2024. She is the elder sister of chess grandmaster Praggnanandhaa.

Personal life

Vaishali was born in

Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...

, Tamil Nadu on 21 June 2001. Her father, Rameshbabu, works as a branch manager at TNSC Bank, and her mother, Nagalakshmi, is a

homemaker Homemaking is mainly an American English, American and Canadian English, Canadian term for the management of a home, otherwise known as housework, housekeeping, housewifery or household management. It is the act of overseeing the organizational ...

. Her younger brother

R Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa (born 10 August 2005) is an Indian chess grandmaster. A chess prodigy, Praggnanandhaa placed second in the 2023 Chess World Cup, and is the only Indian to win the Tata Steel Chess Tournament after Viswanathan Anand. H ...

is also a chess grandmaster.

Career

Vaishali won the Girls'

World Youth Chess Championship The World Youth Chess Championship is a FIDE-organized worldwide chess competition for boys and girls under the age of 8, 10, 12, 14, 16 and 18. History Twelve world champions are crowned every year. Since 2015 (OR 2016), the event has been s ...

for Under-12s in 2012 and Under-14s in 2015. In 2013, at age 12, she defeated future World Chess Champion

Magnus Carlsen Sven Magnus Øen Carlsen (born 30 November 1990) is a Norwegian Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster. Carlsen is a five-time World Chess Championship, World Chess Champion, five-time World Rapid Chess Championship, World Rapid Chess Champio ...

in a simul competition that Carlsen held while in her hometown of Chennai for the

World Chess Championship 2013 The World Chess Championship 2013 was a match between reigning world champion Viswanathan Anand and challenger Magnus Carlsen, to determine the World Chess Champion. It was held from 7 to 25 November 2013 in Chennai, India, under the auspices o ...

. In 2016, she received the

Woman International Master FIDE titles are awarded by the international chess governing body FIDE (''Fédération Internationale des Échecs'') for outstanding performance. The highest such title is Grandmaster (GM). Titles generally require a combination of Elo rating and ...

(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 The Elo rating system is a method for calculating the relative skill levels of players in zero-sum games such as chess or esports. It is named after its creator Arpad Elo, a Hungarian-American chess master and physics professor. The Elo system wa ...

of 2300. She became a

Woman Grandmaster FIDE titles are awarded by the international chess governing body FIDE (''Fédération Internationale des Échecs'') for outstanding performance. The highest such title is Grandmaster (GM). Titles generally require a combination of Elo rating and ...

(WGM) by completing her final norm in the

Riga Technical University Open The Riga Technical University Open (also RTU Open) is an international "open" chess festival annually held in Riga, Latvia in August. It is the largest classical chess tournament in the Baltic states. Abstract The Riga Technical University Open ...

chess tournament in Riga, Latvia on 12 August 2018. Vaishali was the part of the gold medal-winning team at Online Olympiad 2020, where India won its first ever medal. She received her

International Master FIDE titles are awarded by the international chess governing body FIDE (''Fédération Internationale des Échecs'') for outstanding performance. The highest such title is Grandmaster (GM). Titles generally require a combination of Elo rating and ...

(IM) title in 2021. In 2022, Vaishali won the 8th Fischer Memorial, scoring 7.0/9 and winning her second Grandmaster norm. 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, and compatriot

Harika Dronavalli Harika Dronavalli (born 12 January 1991) is an Indian chess player who holds the FIDE title of Grandmaster (GM). She was part of the gold winning women's team at the 45th Chess Olympiad in 2024. She has won three bronze medals in the Women's ...

in the quarterfinals. Vaishali played on Board 3 in the Women's section at the

44th Chess Olympiad The 44th Chess Olympiad was an international team chess event organised by the FIDE, International Chess Federation (FIDE) in Chennai, India, from 28 July to 10 August 2022. It consisted of two main tournaments—an Open event, enabling partic ...

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. In the Qatar Masters Open 2023, Vaishali received her final GM norm after finishing with 5/9 and a performance rating of 2609. She also won the top women's prize in the tournament, after finishing with better tiebreaks (performance rating) than compatriot

Divya Deshmukh Divya Deshmukh (born 9 December 2005) is an Indian chess player who holds the title of Woman Grandmaster and International Master. She is a three-time gold medalist at the Olympiad. Deshmukh has also won multiple golds at the Asian Championship, ...

. Vaishali won the FIDE Women's Grand Swiss 2023 held in the

Isle of Man The Isle of Man ( , also ), or Mann ( ), is a self-governing British Crown Dependency in the Irish Sea, between Great Britain and Ireland. As head of state, Charles III holds the title Lord of Mann and is represented by a Lieutenant Govern ...

by not losing a single game and scoring 8.5/11, thereby qualifying to compete in the 2024 Women's Candidates Tournament in

Toronto, Canada Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

. 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. On January 21, 2024, the India Chess Federation submitted a Grandmaster Title Application on behalf of Vaishali to the

FIDE The International Chess Federation or World Chess Federation, commonly referred to by its French acronym FIDE ( , ), is an international organization based in Switzerland that connects the various national chess federations and acts as the Spor ...

Qualification Committee, which administers

FIDE titles FIDE titles are awarded by the international chess governing body FIDE (''Fédération Internationale des Échecs'') for outstanding performance. The highest such title is Grandmaster (GM). Titles generally require a combination of Elo rating and ...

. She and her brother Praggnanandhaa are the first sister and brother to earn grandmaster titles, with Praggnanandhaa doing so in 2018. She is also the first female grandmaster from

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...

. As of 22 January 2025 her rating is 2476 classical and world rank is 808.

Awards

National

Arjuna Award The Arjuna Award, officially known as Arjuna Awards given for Outstanding Performance in Sports and Games, is the second-highest sporting honour of India, the highest being the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award. The award is named after Arjun ...

: 2024

References

External links

* *
Vaishali wins Indian Women Challengers
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rameshbabu, Vaishali 2001 births Living people Indian female chess players Chess Grandmasters Chess Woman Grandmasters World Youth Chess Champions Tamil sportspeople Sportswomen from Tamil Nadu Sportspeople from Chennai Chess players at the 2022 Asian Games Asian Games silver medalists for India Medalists at the 2022 Asian Games Asian Games medalists in chess Recipients of the Arjuna Award 21st-century Indian chess players Female chess grandmasters Chess Olympiad competitors