Making history is probably easy for R. Vaishali and her brother Praggnanandhaa.

The siblings have achieved a few firsts as a duo and individually — the first to become Grandmasters and qualifying for the Candidates tournament.

The 24-year-old Vaishali, long in the shadow of her prodigiously talented brother, chose to make some history of her own after winning the women’s Candidates tournament on Wednesday, becoming the first Indian to do so.

She had endured a lean run in 2025 before finding form to claim the Grand Swiss title and book a spot in the Candidates. Following an epochal triumph in Cyprus, she will take on reigning champion Ju Wenjun of China for the Women’s World Chess Championship title later this year.

Vaishali’s long-time coach , R.B. Ramesh, is over the moon and told Sportstar, “Qualifying for the World Championship match is an amazing thing and I hope she’ll be able to win the title.”

Speaking about the Chennai GM’s loss of confidence last year, he said, “Yeah, she had some confidence issues earlier, especially after the Chennai GM tournament (last year), but she has been working hard on her game and is feeling much more confident now.”

The manner in which Vaishali played during the triumph in the Cypriot city of Paphos should stand her in good stead going forward. Often flying under the radar given her sibling’s achievements, Ramesh said, “Pragg and Vaishali have made peace with each other being very strong on their own terms. I don’t think Pragg’s performances have any negative impact on Vaishali anymore.”

He said Vaishali is very strong in attack and calculation skills and added, “Wish she can improve her time management a bit.”

Ramesh believes his ward has benefitted a lot from the support she gets from her family and feels she has a good chance at the World title.

More history beckons when Vaishali faces the Chinese with the prospect of becoming the first-ever Indian woman to win the World title.

Published on Apr 17, 2026