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Vaishali Rameshbabu became India’s 84th grandmaster, and with this, she, along with her younger brother R. Praggnanandhaa became India’s first sibling duo to be grandmasters. Not only this but by achieving the feat, Rameshbabu became India’s third female grandmaster from India Koneru Humpy and Harika Dronavalli. She achieved the feat after crossing the hallowed 2500 Elo rating during the 2023 IV El Llobregat Open in Barcelona, Spain, on Saturday.
Vaishali defeated Turkey's 37-year-old FIDE Master Tamer Tarik Selbes (Elo rating of 2238) in the second round. She cleared the 2500 mark and began the tournament with two back-to-back wins. She had three GM norms - Xtracon Open 2019, Fischer Memorial 2022, and Qatar Open 2023 and hence, needed only 4.5 ratings to cross the mark.
After achieving the title, Vaishali told Chess.com, "I am very happy to have finally completed the title. It’s just two rounds. I am also focusing on the tournament. But I am really happy with the GM title. I’ve finally achieved a goal of mine since I started playing chess. I was so close to it so, I was really excited but there was some pressure as well.”
The 22-year-old is currently ranked number 2 in India and world number 11 in the women’s ranking. 2023 has been an exceptional year for Vaishali as she came on the back of a FIDE Women's Grand Swiss 2023 win and Candidates 2024 qualification. Notably, Praggnanandhaa became the youngest grandmaster at the age of 12 years, 10 months, and 13 days in 2018.
