R. Vaishali becomes Grand Master

Vaishali had acquired her second WGM norm at the Gredine Open (Italy)--the same tournament her brother became a GM and the youngest Indian to do so in June.

R. Vaishali completed her final norm in the Riga Technical University Open chess tournament.

Seventeen-year-old R. Vaishali, elder sister of R. Praggnanandhaa, became a Woman Grandmaster by completing her final norm in the Riga Technical University Open chess tournament in Riga, Latvia on Sunday. Vaishali had acquired her second WGM norm at the Gredine Open (Italy)--the same tournament her brother became a GM and the youngest Indian to do so in June. "I think she has got her third norm in pretty quick time," R.B. Ramesh, Vaishali's coach, told Sportstar here on Monday.

Ramesh observed that in recent tournaments, she has been losing to higher-rated players, but here she earned draws against opponents of higher ranking which enabled her to complete the norm. Vaishali, currently, has a rating of 2,294. "Now she has to work harder, chose good tournaments, and improve on her chess strengths and try to become a men's GM (rating of 2,500)," he added.