On Board: R Vaishali and R Praggnanandhaa are the only brother-sister Chess Grandmasters in the world

Vinayak Padmadeo

Chennai has a new address that’s unmissable. While Viswanathan Anand, the king of 64 squares, still reigns supreme with his five World and numerous other titles, the household of Rameshbabu and Nagalakshmi is one more place which chess aficionados throng these days. And rightly so, because two of India’s biggest talents, R Vaishali and R Praggnanandhaa, reside here.

The siblings have been quietly rewriting records of the game ever since their childhood. They have now become the only brother-sister duo to be the Grandmasters, who will also take part in the Candidates Tournament to be held in Toronto, Canada, in April next year.

India on the chess map

• There are 84 Grandmasters (GM) in India currently, of which only three —
• R Vaishali, who recently got FIDE rating of 2,500, Koneru Humpy and Harika Dronavalli — are women.
• Vaishali and her younger brother R Praggnanandhaa have become the world’s first siblings to become GMs and will also feature in the Candidates Tournament in 2024.
• There are 124 International Masters (IM) in the country.
• Grandmaster D Gukesh is India’s top-ranked chess player, replacing Viswanathan Anand as the numero uno in the country. Anand was India’s No. 1 since July 1986.
• Russia has been the dominant country in the sport and it reflects in numbers as it has the most GMs: 364. Germany comes second with 118.

Vaishali earned her ticket to the tournament as she won the FIDE Grand Swiss tournament in November. She played out a draw against Mongolia’s Batkhuyag Munguntuul in the 11th and final round to sit atop the points tally with 8.5 points. Vaishali then earned the GM title at the IV El Llobregat Open Chess Tournament in Spain only last week, after she crossed 2,500 ELO rating points, to become the 84th GM from India.

Vaishali joins the esteemed company of Koneru Humpy and Harika Dronavalli as the only three women GMs from India.

However, for someone who started playing early and showed promise, this title was a long time coming, especially when her brother Praggnanandhaa, who is four years younger, had achieved the mark way back in 2018, when he was only 12 years old.

According to their coach RB Ramesh, who is also a GM, Vaishali was the higher rated among the siblings, but began to slide down as the focus shifted from her to her younger brother when he became the youngest International Master in 2016. The spotlight moved to Pragg.

“When Pragg became the youngest International Master, he crossed above my rating for the first time. Suddenly, at home, as everywhere else, the focus was entirely on him. That made me upset. I don’t think I managed those emotions well,” Vaishali told the BBC.

Ramesh saw the churn from up-close. “Suddenly she was being referred to as Pragg’s elder sister. The media would ask her, ‘How proud are you of Pragg’s achievements?’ It certainly had a negative effect on her and rightly so,” Ramesh speaks about the times when the seemingly more talented sibling’s career started to stagnate.

Their life and careers were linked to the extent that they would travel and compete and win together in various national and international tournaments. Like in 2012, when both had won the nationals and qualified for the Asian Youth Chess Championships in Hikkaduwa, Sri Lanka.

Despite funds’ crunch, both travelled to Sri Lanka and came back champions. Vaishali had won the under-12 girls’ title, while Praggnanandhaa had triumphed in the under-8 boys’ category. Since then, the little brother, who seems more outgoing, started to outshine his older sister, who was his first window to the game of chess.

“She started four-five years before Pragg. She had a better rating initially but as Pragg starting winning more, she was being referred to as his elder sister. She lost her confidence and identity. She had to fight that feeling. Now she has matured and has accepted that Pragg is the better player. Vaishali is appreciative of this fact and it does not make her insecure anymore,” adds their coach.

Of late, this acceptance and a quiet confidence have started to reflect in her results. She was part of the gold medal winning Indian team at the 2020 Online Olympiad, which was the country’s first-ever medal in the prestigious event. In July 2022, she won the team bronze as part of the women’s team at the 44th Chess Olympiad, and doubled it up with an individual bronze.

The siblings also mirrored their results, as both won the team silver at the 2023 Asian Games. Even then, Pragg pulled away and stamped his class. He beat the then reigning World Champion thrice in a space of a few months. Starting at the online Airthings Masters rapid tournament of the Champions Chess Tour 2022, where he nicked a game, Pragg triumphed again at the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour’s Chessable Masters 2022. He then beat Magnus Carlsen thrice in the FTX Crypto Cup 2022 but finished behind him in the final standings.

And then came the big result, albeit not to Pragg’s liking, where he took Carlsen to two tiebreaks in the final of the Chess World Cup 2023. He was the second Indian after his idol Anand to reach the final ever.

Coming of age

Vaishali and Praggnanandhaa are one of many Indians who have broken through the World ranks. There is a general consensus now that India is fast becoming the hub of chess and has taken over the mantle from Russia and China, the traditional powerhouses.

Along with Vidit Gujrathi, who has also qualified for the Candidates Tournament after winning the 2023 Grand Swiss tournament, D Gukesh, Nihal Sarin and Praggnanandhaa, all are in the top-30 bracket in the FIDE rankings.

In fact, four Indians — Gukesh, Praggnanandhaa, E Arjun and Gujrathi — made it to the quarterfinals of the World Cup early this year in Baku, Azerbaijan. Perhaps an indication how Indians have started to flex. Similarly, the India B team comprising Praggnanandhaa, Gukesh, Nihal, Raunak and Adhiban won the bronze medal at the Chess Olympiad, with Gukesh earning the gold medal with nine points.

This is a far cry from the times of Pravin Thipsay, who had to wait for a decade to achieve his GM title. Those days, says Thipsay, who was considered as one of the finest of his times, was a big struggle as books were not easily available and travelling for international tournaments was a distant dream.

“The online push during the Covid pandemic, it seems, helped some of them shed their inhibitions because suddenly they were beating top-ranked players. It freed them. When Carlsen saw the team list for the Olympiad, he had remarked, ‘India B team is very strong.’ These things give you a lift and when you see someone like Gukesh winning on the first board, it makes others realise they can match the results,” explains Thipsay.

“But there is also another viewpoint about this sudden rise in GMs from India. Now one has to get to the 2,500 ELO ratings points besides winning three GM norms. In my time, the ratings would be higher and because we could not travel more, it used to take more number of years for us to earn the norms,” adds Thipsay.

“The only thing that has changed is that we used to think that it takes time to achieve the GM title. Now these youngsters have the belief that they can get everything quicker,” he adds.

Ramesh, too, seems to suggest that the sport is still tilted towards those who have the resources to travel for tournaments. “Our numbers are rising, but we need to look deeper. When you see the actual number of registered players, which is a little over a lakh in comparison to our population numbers, it shows a different picture,” he says.

The coach explains that two-third of the ELO rating points essentially have to be earned by doing well in tournaments, especially in Europe. So those who can afford to participate in tournaments abroad have more chances of making the grade.

Both Thipsay and Ramesh, however, give full credit to the current All-India Chess Federation (AICF) for helping out the states when it comes to nurturing young talent. The AICF has set up a system where GMs now train the local talents by holding camps twice a year. The expenses of these events are borne by the national federation. The scheme started in 2019.

“But India has a long way to go as most of the prestigious tournaments are held across Europe. We have taken over the space left by Russia and China, but we are not on the global map yet when it comes to hosting tournaments,” says Ramesh.

Nonetheless, it remains a very popular sport, thanks to the exploits of a new generation born post 2000, when Anand had won his first ever World title.

Despite the popularity, chess is yet to catch on as a spectator sport. The online viewership is phenomenal. Chess.com, which regularly features all events, claims that since January 2020, over 102 million users have signed up.

Praggnanandhaa’s World Cup run broke this mindset as popular media organisations, including the TV networks, were regularly featuring his matches.

“Those performances will create waves but the reality is that it is easier to follow online. Chess is the only sport that has a similar feel whether you play physically or online, unlike playing cricket online that looks superficial and doesn’t have the same charm,” Thipsay says.