It’s never easy sharing a roof with a sibling who is just as talented as you, if not more so. Most of us have felt the silent sting of comparison: a teacher asking why you’re not quite like your brother or your parents, in an unguarded moment when they hold a sibling’s success as the standard. In classes, at home, in sports circles, there is always this thought: what if the other person did it better?
Grandmaster of Women Vaishali lived with this suggestion for most of her life.
A 24-year-old woman from Chennai lived in a special kind of eclipse for years. Although she was one of India’s finest chess minds, she was often introduced to the uninitiated simply as the sister of Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa.
But on the decisive Tuesday in Cyprus, the shadow finally receded.
By winning the Women’s Candidates 2026 competitionVaishali became only the second Indian woman after Konera Humpy in 2011 to qualify for a World Championship match. She will face China’s Ju Wenjun for the ultimate title later this year.
Vaishali entered the tournament as the dark horse, the lowest-ranked player in the eight-member field. What followed was a display of nerve and skill. In a grueling 14-round doubleheader, she found another gear late on, recovering from a loss in round 12 and defeating Kateryna Lagno white in the final round to win the tournament by half a point.
It was a victory that showed her toughest race was never just overboard, but against the narrative that had followed her for years.
SHADOW
Comparison was always inevitable.
Her younger brother, GM Praggnanandhaa, became famous when he became the youngest international world champion. He then became the second youngest Grandmaster in history in 2018 at just 12 years old. Vaishali achieved the same milestone five years later.
Even in Indian women’s chess, the timelines have been merciless. Koneru Humpy became a women’s grandmaster at age 15 in 2002. By comparison, Vaishali’s WGM title in 2023, at age 21, felt unfairly late.
While the spotlight shone brightly on Pragg, Vaishali worked in a softer background glow.
Yet it was actually Vaishali who moved the first pawn in the family.
Her mother, Nagalakshmi, once famously recalled enrolling Vaishali in chess classes simply to wean her away from TV cartoons. Two-year-old Pragg sat nearby and often bounced pieces off the board while his sister practiced. Soon the toddler stopped interrupting the game. He made it. Vaishali and Pragg with their father Rameshbabu (Courtesy: chessvaishali/Instagram)
Both would continue train under GM RB Ramesh and women’s grandmaster Aarthia Ramaswamy in Chennai, he eventually became part of the first batch at the WestBridge Anand Academy, led by the legendary Viswanathan Anand.
“Youngsters joined us. She was a higher-ranked player at that time. Pragg was still 1700. She was 1900, something like that. She was a stronger player at that time,” GM Ramesh told IndiaToday.in on Wednesday, April 15, from Chennai.
“Both are similar: both work hard, both don’t go to school regularly. Practice for so many years more than 6-8 hours a day. Both can get into time trouble. But she is more aggressive. Pragg is more solid, more professional. Vaishali is entrepreneurial and aggressive in her approach.”
“Meanwhile, Pragg had overtaken Vaishali to become the world’s youngest IM and in a few years the world’s youngest GM and so on. She was feeling a bit nervous at the time. She could feel it.”
“Suddenly the spotlight was on him. She felt it was a bit unfair. It affected her for a few years. She got over it and now they’re both proud of each other’s performance,” he said.
Their paths intertwined. They were never identical. R Vaishali with her mother and brother Pragg after winning the 2025 Grand Swiss (PTI Photo)
Bond
In Cyprus, the story found its most human moment.
It was a tough week for Praggnanandhaa. He entered the Open Candidates as one of the favorites with hopes of setting up an all-India World Championship clash against reigning champion D Gukesh later this year. But he lost speed at the wrong time and finished seventh.
And yet, when it mattered most, he was there.
As Vaishali left the arcade after the last round, her mother and brother were waiting. They hugged her in a painful moment when she emerged as the new challenger for the world title.
Then came a moment that revealed their equation more than any statistic could.
In an interview with IM Sagar Shah for ChessBase India, Vaishali made sure that her brother’s role did not go unnoticed. He tried to deflect as always. She didn’t let him.
“He was very motivating. There were some tense moments in the last few days. He was there to support me. He also had a tough event. But he was always there to support me, to cheer me up. We discussed a few things last night about what I would like to do in the last round,” said Vaishali.
YEARS OF WORK
Victory in Cyprus was the result of years that have rarely looked so certain.
Vaishali has had many ups and downs in her career, but the journey to Candidates brought clarity. Her victory at last year’s Grand Swiss, a tournament she was unsure about, proved decisive.
“Extremely proud. It’s been decades of effort from Vaishali. She’s been playing chess for over 15 years. Now she’s one step closer to becoming a world champion. Really happy to make it this far,” said Ramesh.
Once she punched her candidate ticket last year, the technical preparation was augmented by a rigorous mental overhaul.
“She has had a lot of training camps. We don’t want to reveal her team because the World Cup is there. She has been doing yoga for many months now, meditating quite regularly. It also calms her nerves. In all these crucial moments, especially to win in the last round, in a must-win situation, it is not easy. It was all about training and improving her strength,” said Ramesh.
HOLDING THE LINE
The tournament required everything she had built.
Vaishali started on a wavering note before finding her rhythm in the second half. She was the sole leader by lap 12, which she didn’t expect to hold.
Then came failure. Losing with the white pieces to Zhu Jiner threatened to undo her work.
But this time she held on.
“Having a one-point lead and then losing the match would have affected many players. But then she kept her nerve and won the tournament. I am really happy,” said Ramesh.
Sometimes something as simple as a WhatsApp message happened.
“I told her, ‘These things can happen. Try to think of it like you made two draws instead of thinking you lost today. You’re still in the lead with a few laps to go.’ And making two draws is not a bad thing, you lose the lead,” said Ramesh.
Vaishali reset.
She even found the courage to joke about the failure.
“With that one-point lead at the end, I didn’t expect it at all in this tournament. It was putting pressure on me before playing Zhu Jiner. But after I lost that match, I felt like, ‘Okay, we’re back to normal.’ Luckily we had a rest day afterwards. It was good for me to reset and plan for the last two rounds,” she said.
TIME FOR YOGA
Part of this reset was a major lifestyle change. Ramesh insisted on a strict sleep schedule and morning yoga to ensure she didn’t carry “negative baggage” into the next day.
“I told her to sleep early. I told her that even if she loses a match, she needs to sleep well. Because it is a serious problem for many players, it is almost impossible to sleep when you lose. But I suggested that she needs to sleep even if it is a painful loss and move on. And lately I believe she is doing that,” said Ramesh.
“She also gets up early and does yoga. Because if you don’t sleep well, you get up late and it’s almost afternoon. But now she’s made it a point to get up early and do yoga. That kind of self-discipline is a positive change.”
THE UNFORGOTTEN TEENAGER
To keep the atmosphere light, the coaches sent 19-year-old GM Pranesh as her double. Pranesh played the role of the oblivious teenager perfectly.
“Having Pranesh as second was Mr Ramesh and Madam Aarthi’s idea,” Vaishali told ChessBase India.
“He’s a nice and funny person. The intention was to keep it light because there were a lot of tense and tense moments during the competition.
“Whenever I’d have a tough game and I’d go into his room, he’d say, ‘It’s okay, Akko, don’t worry.’ He was very supportive. We played a lot of table tennis and paddle. Of course also some lightning.
“He was waiting for a rest day. After each rest day he would say, ‘Oh, when’s the next rest day?’
MORE THAN A NAME
It takes more than talent to reach the top. It takes time, resilience, and the ability to let go of the stories that are written for you before you can write your own.
For Vaishali, it meant growing up next to the glitz without being defined by it. It meant absorbing the comparisons without being consumed by them.
The World Championship match against Ju Wenjun will test her again. But Cyprus has already done something more permanent.
Rameshbabu Vaishali will no longer be introduced as someone else’s sister.
She will be introduced as a world title challenger.
– The end
Issued by:
Akshay Ramesh
Published on:
16 Apr 2026 05:36 IST
