R. Vaishali is someone who enjoys flying under the radar. The elder sibling of R. Praggnanandhaa won the FIDE Grand Swiss for a second time and booked a spot in next year’s Candidates tournament after a modest run in the lead-up to the prestigious event in Samarkand (Uzbekistan).
Rough patch
A few weeks before the big event, she competed in the Challengers section of the Chennai Grandmasters tournament and finished with 1.5 points from nine rounds.
Before that, she lost in the quarterfinals of the women’s World Cup to Tan Zhongyi, fifth out of six at the Norway chess tournament, fourth in the Austria Grand Prix, sixth in the Pune Grand Prix, and ninth in the Tata Steel Challengers tournament. Hardly the right preparation heading into a strong competition like the Grand Swiss.
However, the 24-year-old Chennai girl rose like a phoenix in the Uzbek city. She found her bearings and overcame a morale-shattering defeat at the hands of Kazakhstan’s Bibisara Assaubayeva to emerge a deserving champion. In the Candidates, Vaishali will be playing alongside the young World Cup winner Divya Deshmukh and the experienced Koneru Humpy.
For someone who was introduced to chess at the age of six to keep her away from watching cartoons on television, it has been a memorable journey. Vaishali took to the 64 squares like a duck to water.
Though her younger brother has accomplished more, there’s no doubt that she has carved a niche for herself. That Vaishali is only the third woman from India to become a Grandmaster speaks volumes of her skill and temperament.
Proud brother
“So proud of you, akka (sister)! Winning the FIDE Grand Swiss is such an incredible achievement. The confidence and determination you’ve shown throughout the tournament has been truly inspiring. Big congratulations on this amazing victory!” posted Praggnanandhaa on X (formerly Twitter) after his sister finished on top.
The two share a close bond and often travel with their mother to tournaments in India and abroad. Last year, they became the first brother-sister duo to feature in the Candidates. They seem to feed off each other’s success.
The Grand Swiss triumph should spur Vaishali on in her ultimate dream: the World championship title. Having experienced the pressures of playing in the Candidates, Vaishali will definitely be better prepared this time.
“A lot of experience in the last two years and many tough tournaments helped me get stronger… the Candidate, for example, where I lost four games in a row. I believe those important moments helped me get better and stronger, both as a player and as a person,” she told the broadcasters after pipping Katernya Lagno for the title in Samarkand.
Vaishali is, without doubt, a stronger player now and has been able to soak in the pressure and deliver in crunch situations. She was one of the key performers in India’s gold medal-winning performance in the Olympiad in Budapest last year. “The Grand Swiss victory in 2023 came at the right moment. I didn’t play well for a long time, made my final GM-norm, and went on to get a fourth GM-norm during the event. A lot of things fell into place in the 2023 tournament and it completely changed my year,” she said after defending her Grand Swiss crown.
“This year, again, things were not going my way even though I was working very hard… somehow the results were not coming. I dropped a lot of rating points and this win is very crucial going forward,” she added.
Fighting spirit
Vaishali has time and again shown an uncanny ability to fight back from adverse situations. In the 2024 Toronto Candidates, she found herself in a rut, losing four straight matches, but hit back strongly with five wins on the bounce to take the joint second spot along with Koneru Humpy and China’s Lei Tingjie.
Her greatest trait is that she is quietly confident, knowing she can raise her game when the going gets tough.
“In my previous tournament (Chennai Grandmasters), I lost seven games, I lost one week in a row. I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing. Then when I win, I am unstoppable,” Vaishali said. And she was indeed unstoppable in Samarkand, with only Assaubayeva pinning her down in the eighth round.
“Actually, when I lost to Bibisara (Assaubayeva of Kazakhstan), I was happy I did not collapse. I drew the next game and kind of settled in,” she said, revealing her mental state.
A Chess Gurukul product
Emerging from Chess Gurukul run by R.B. Ramesh, one of the country’s top coaches who also trains Praggnanandhaa and Karthikeyan Murali among others, Vaishali will look to get sharper and aim higher. Her opponents, too, will be wary of her as she has proved she can be ruthless.
Having done course correction after her woes in the Chennai Grandmasters tournament and reaching the pinnacle in a field that required her to be at her best, Vaishali will be brimming with confidence for the challenges ahead. But for now, it’s her time in the sun.
Published – September 17, 2025 12:49 am IST