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Vaishali Rameshbabu on Saturday, December 2 became the 84th grandmaster from India after she went past 2500 ELO rating at the IV Elllobregat Open Chess Tournament in Barcelona, Spain. She defeated FM Tamer Tarik Selbes (2238 rating) of Turkey in the second round to accomplish the feat with two straight wins in the tournament.
Vaishali and R Pragnanandhaa, who won silver medal at the 2023 FIDE World Cup this year, are now the first-ever Indian sibling pair to attain the grandmaster status in chess. In 2018, Pragnanandhaa became the second youngest grandmaster at the age of 12 years, 10 months and 13 days.
The 22-year-old Vaishali also became the third female grandmaster from India after Koneru Humpy and Harika Dronavalli.
"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,” Vaishali told Chess.com.
"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. My game was not so good in the middle but somehow, I managed to win. I have qualified for the Candidates and will hopefully win this tournament," she added.
Vaishali Rameshbabu jumps from IM to GM
It took more than two years for Vaishali Rameshbabu to elevate her status from International Master to Grandmaster. She became IM at the 2021 Biel Masters Open on August 4, 2021.
She had three GM norms - Xtracon Open 2019, Fischer Memorial 2022 and Qatar Open 2023. The Tamil Nadu-born chess player needed 4.5 ratings to reach the Grandmaster title ahead of the IV Elllobregat Open.
The current World No.11 won the FIDE Women's Grand Swiss last month at the Isle of Man in the UK. With her present rating of 2501.5, Vaishali is ranked second in India after Koneru Humpy (2554).
