17/09/2025
A beautiful frame! Siblings R. Vaishali and Praggnanandhaa with their mother Nagalakshmi at the end of FIDE Grand Swiss 2025.
R. Vaishali made history by defending her Grand Swiss title that she had won in 2023. With this she also made it to the FIDE Candidates 2026. It is quite likely that Pragg will make it to the Candidates 2026 through the FIDE circuit route as he is leading by a big margin!
This means that the brother sister duo will make it to the Candidates for the 2nd time in a row! Both of them played in Toronto, Canada in the 2024 edition and did quite well. To repeat such a feat again is absolutely amazing.
We congratulate Pragg and Vaishali as well as their family - Rameshbabu and Nagalakshmi for making the country proud of so many occasions. Truly, they are the golden siblings of Indian chess!
Photo: Prajwal Bhat