Chennai’s Vaishali Rameshbabu became the 84th Grandmaster of India.
On 2 December, Vaishali became Grandmaster after crossing the 2500 Elo rating during the 2023 IV Elllobregat Open in Barcelona, Spain.
Vaishali and her younger brother R. Praggnananda are now India’s first brother-sister duo to officially become Grandmasters.
After Koneru Humpy and Harika Dronavalli, Vaishali is the third female Grandmaster from India.
Vaishali crossed the 2500 mark by defeating 37-year-old FIDE Master Tamer Tarik Selbes of Turkey in the second round.
Vaishali had earlier achieved three Grandmaster norms in the form of Xtracon Open 2019, Fischer Memorial 2022, and Qatar Open 2023, and needed only 4.5 rating points to go beyond 2500.
With a live rating of 2501.5, she is currently the world number 11 in the women’s ranking and is India’s number two.
