In a rare occurrence in chess, India's R Praggnanandhaa and his sister Vaishali have become the world's first brother-sister pair to become Grandmasters. The duo won this distinction when Vaishali became a Grandmaster, India's 3rd woman Grandmanster, when she crossed the 2500 FIDE ratings at the IV El Llobregat Open in Spain on Friday.
India's two other female Grandmasters are Koneru Humpy and Harika Dronavalli.
Vaishali, 22, defeated Turkish FM Tamer Tarik Selbes in the second round to surpass rating and has started the tournament with two consecutive wins.
This brother-sister duo is also the first to qualify for the Candidates. The Candidates Tournament is a chess tournament organized by FIDE, chess's international governing body, since 1950, as the final contest to determine the challenger for the World Chess Championship. The winner of the Candidates earns the right to a match for the World Championship against the incumbent world champion.
Praggnanandhaa turned Grandmaster in 2018 at the age of 12. He holds the record of being the second-youngest Grandmaster.
“I am very happy to finally completed the title. It’s just two rounds. I am also focusing on the tournament. But I am really happy with the GM title,” told Chess.com.
Earlier this year, Praggnanandhaa, the younger of the two siblings, became the world's youngest player to reach the Chess World Cup final. Praggnanandhaa defeated USA's Fabiano Caruana in tie-breaks in the semi-final of the Chess World Cup 2023. He has also become the second Indian after Viswanathan Anand to reach the final in Chess World Cup history.
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