R Vaishali becomes third Indian female chess Grandmaster

R Vaishali on Saturday became the third Indian female to achieve the Grandmaster (GM) status in professional chess. She follows the footsteps of Koneru Humpy and D Harika in achieving Grandmaster status in chess. Koneru Humpy, had in fact become the youngest ever female to achieve the GM status when she did so in 2002, aged 15 years old. Vaishali officially became India’s 84th Grandmaster after going past 2500 rating points during the IV Elllobregat Open 2023 on Saturday. Vaishali had received her third GM norm during the Qatar Masters tournament in October and she just had to increase her Elo rating. And in November, the 22-year-old Vaishali clinched the FIDE Grand Swiss tournament in Isle of Man, to help her qualify for the Candidates tournament in 2024.

FAMILY OF GRANDMASTERS!👫🔥#Chess♟️

A tale of greatness unfolds as @chessvaishali becomes India's 84th Grandmaster 🤩

Becoming only the 3⃣rd 🇮🇳 female to achieve this extraordinary feat 🥳, Vashali, along with her brother @rpragchess, are now also the World's 1⃣st and only… pic.twitter.com/yfssRcSpBr

— SAI Media (@Media_SAI) December 2, 2023

Vaishali is not the only member from her family to achieve the title of a chess Grandmaster. In 2018, Vaishali’s brother R Praggnandhaa had become GM aged just 12. The duo became the first-ever brother-sister pair to achieve the Grandmaster status. Vaishali and Praggnandhaa have also made it to the prestigious Candidates tournament next year, which acts as a qualifying tournament for the Chess World Championship match.