Rameshbabu Vaishali (born 21 June 2001) is an Indian chess grandmaster.
She is the third woman in India to have achieved the grandmaster title, making her and her brother Praggnanandhaa the first-ever brother-sister duo to achieve the grandmaster title.
They also became the first-ever brother-sister duo to qualify for the Candidates Tournament.
Vaishali was born in a Tamil family in Chennai.
She is the elder sibling of Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa.
Her father, Rameshbabu, works at TNSC Bank as a branch manager.
Her mother, Nagalakshmi, is a homemaker.
Vaishali's father, Rameshbabu, was an enthusiastic chess player and introduced her to the game when she was a young girl.
2012
Vaishali won the Girls' World Youth Chess Championship for Under-12s in 2012 and Under-14s in 2015.
2013
In 2013, at age 12, she defeated future World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen in a simul competition that Carlsen held while in her hometown of Chennai for the World Chess Championship 2013.
2016
In 2016, she received the Woman International Master (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 of 2300.
2018
She became a Woman Grandmaster (WGM) by completing her final norm in the Riga Technical University Open chess tournament in Riga, Latvia on 12 August 2018.
2020
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 (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 in the quarterfinals.
Vaishali played on Board 3 in the Women's section at the 44th Chess Olympiad at Mamallapuram, Chennai, in July-Aug 2022.
India Women team won the Team bronze medal, and Vaishali won individual bronze medal 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.
Vaishali won the FIDE Women's Grand Swiss 2023 held in the Isle of Man by not losing a single game and scoring 8.5/11, thereby qualifying to compete in the Women's Candidates Tournament to be held in Toronto, Canada in 2024.
She and her younger brother Praggnanandhaa became the first sister-brother duo ever 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, earning her Grandmaster title and becoming the third woman and 84th person in India to receive the title.
She and her younger brother Praggnanandhaa thereby became the world's first sister-brother grandmaster duo.
Vaishali received Arjuna Award from the President of India on 9 January 2024.
