The Indian siblings who are sweeping the chess world

By KnowledgeVeto Saturday, December 02, 2023 17:50

Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa and his sister, Vaishali are among the world's best chess players

Few people in the recent decade have fit the description of chess prodigy as well as India's Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa. He achieved the world's youngest International Master at the age of ten, the second-highest rank after Grandmaster.

In 2018, he became the world's second-youngest Grandmaster, defeating five-time world champion Magnus Carlsen three times in a row in online games. He is only the second Indian, after Viswanathan Anand, to reach a World Cup final and qualify for the Candidates competition.

While all of this was going on, another chess-playing member of his family, Praggnanandhaa's sister Vaishali, who is four years his senior, was patiently waiting her turn.

Vaishali was the first in her family to learn to play chess, and her talent and dedication have never been questioned. She has finally ended India's 12-year wait for a female Grandmaster, becoming only the third after Koneru Humpy and Harika Dronavalli. The Chennai siblings are also the first Grandmaster brother-sister pair in history.

Related Video: The man who has made Praggnanandhaa and Vaishali who they are - Father Rameshbabu

Vaishali, 22, upset three former women's world champions in November to win the Women's Grand Swiss event and qualify for the Women's Candidates tournament.

It's an incredibly successful chess kinship. The importance of sibling rivalry cannot be overstated.

"When Pragg became the youngest International Master, he for the first time crossed my rating." "At home, the focus was suddenly entirely on him," Vaishali told BBC. "I was upset. "I don't think I managed those emotions well," she admits, adding that it affected her performance.

"My parents would talk to me about it, and I'd feel better for a while." But every time he had a spectacular outcome and all eyes were on him, I would revert to feeling a little down. It took some time for me to get past those thoughts and recognize that he is special. I felt better about myself after earning my Woman Grandmaster (WGM) title. I've been nothing but pleased of his accomplishments over the previous few years. "I see the effort that went into it," she says.

Vaishali and Ramesh are the first brother-sister team to make the Candidates' Round.

Vaishali was the higher-rated player of the two when they first began training under Grandmaster RB Ramesh as children. Their journey in the game took different directions over the years, and it was sometimes accompanied with stabs of envy for the one striving to keep up.

"It's never easy for the sibling who's on the other side," Ramesh explains. For the longest time (up to the World Cup in August), the media would pour into their home after every huge result from Praggnanandhaa and ask Vaishali how it felt to be his sister or how happy their parents were of their son.

Her frantic desire to achieve Grandmaster status and avoid oblivion was evident in her perplexing opening selections at times. "I'd look at her live games and wonder, 'Why is she playing this?'" I could feel the despair and stress. She's been doing a good job lately of sticking to what she knows best. "The results are visible," he says.

Praggnanandhaa and Vaishali's bond developed over time, and the epidemic brought the siblings closer together. They are each other's fiercest mascots and closest confidantes now.

"During the pandemic, we started talking about things we had never talked about before." He exudes confidence and clarity.

Vaishali has qualified for the Women's Candidates tournament

"Not many other chess players have someone they can turn to, a family member or an active player with whom they can analyze games and talk chess for hours." "It's only now that I think we both realize how much we value this opportunity," she adds.

Vaishali pulled Praggnanandhaa on an hour-long stroll to get a bad game out of her head during the Asian Games in October. The rest of her Indian teammates had drew their games in the women's tournament, but her defeat to Tan Zhongyi had resulted in India's defeat to China.

She opted not to compete in the following tournament on her schedule, the Qatar Masters, since she was overcome with emotion and despair. Praggnanandhaa successfully talked her out of it. It was effective for her. She finished as one of the tournament's top female players, earning her third and final Grandmaster norm.

They shared a playing hall at the Grand Swiss tournament that followed, and Praggnanandhaa was seen strolling over to his sister's board throughout her games to see how she was doing.

The temperaments of the Indian siblings are diametrically opposed.

Praggnananandhaa is outgoing, gregarious, and extroverted. Vaishali is introverted, silent, and prone to overthinking. The latter has a mind made for harsh self-admonition; after a significant triumph at the Women's Grand Swiss and Candidates qualification, Vaishali couldn't stop worrying about her narrow GM title miss.

Praggnanandhaa has consistently demonstrated exceptional defensive abilities as well as calm play. Vaishali is the type of determined attacker who can play a line that chess computers don't like, sacrifice a few pieces, weave a web of tactical intricacies, and suffocate the opponent.

It's almost like a family-run business dedicated to chess brilliance

At the Women's Grand Swiss, she destroyed International Master Leya Garifullina in this precise fashion. In another match at the same competition, she defeated former world champion Mariya Muzychuk in 23 moves when the latter overreached, allowing the Indian to unleash a deadly attack. Vaishali's dominance at the competition, searing everything in her way, was the loudest declaration of her presence.

It's a rare sight to see the country's most promising male and female Indian chess players from the same family.

Image By ytimg.com

Father Rameshbabu is in charge of logistics and travel arrangements, while mother Nagalakshmi is the sergeant on constant duty, accompanying both children through long competitions around the world.

Their image is not built with slick public relations work. Vaishali often administers both of their social media accounts, and Praggnanandhaa frequently requests her assistance in replying to communications. It's almost like a family-run business dedicated to chess brilliance.

Vaishali and Praggnanandhaa won the national championships in 2012 and qualified for the Asian Youth Championships in Hikkaduwa, Sri Lanka. Back then, the family's main concern was saving enough money to cover three people's travel expenses. They were able to raise the monies and both returned champions, Vaishali in the under-12 girls and Praggnanandhaa in the under-8 boys.

"We grew up together winning age-group tournaments." We recently won the same medals in the Olympic Games and the Asian Games. Now we're all going to the biggest tournament of our lives."