CHENNAI: It’s been a magnificent year for Indian chess and now, there’s an icing on the cake. Chennai girl R Vaishali, who had earlier sealed a spot for the women’s Candidates tournament and made history by becoming the first brother-sister duo with R Praggnanandhaa to do so, is now the third Indian woman to become a Grandmaster.
On Friday, with two consecutive victories in the ongoing Ellobregat Open tournament in Spain, Vaishali steered past the 2500-mark Elo rating to reach the milestone that Koneru Humpy and D Harika did before her. According to FIDE (The International Chess Federation), Vaishali and Prag are the first-ever brother-sister pair to be GMs.
