10 unknown photos of R. Vaishali

by Devansh Singh - 20/04/2026

The whole world knows that Vaishali Rameshbabu won the FIDE Candidates 2026, and now she is going to play the World Championship match against reigning Women's World Chess Champion Ju Wenjun. The stories of the candidates and Vaishali's journey are all over the internet. But what if we bring you 10 unseen special photos of Vaishali's Career? Check out this short article with her photos and the backstory behind each one of them.

1. The Strongest Siblings?

The elder of the two siblings, R. Vaishali, was quite addicted to television. To break this routine, Rameshbabu and Nagalakshmi decided to enroll her in a chess class nearby. Very soon, the girl started becoming better, and seeing her play, little Pragg also started getting interested. "We really didn't want Pragg to play chess," says Rameshbabu. "First of all, due to my physical condition, my wife would have to travel all alone with the two kids. And secondly, sustaining two chess careers was financially not an easy task." Read More

Can you guess the age of Praggnanandhaa and Vaishali in this old picture?

2. A Prize by Kasparov

In 2012, 11-year-old Vaishali achieved a massive milestone by winning the World Under-12 Girls’ Chess Championship in Maribor, Slovenia. This was a significant trip for her, as it marked both her first world youth competition and her first time traveling to Europe. The experience came with tough adjustments, particularly a 5.5-hour time difference from India that made the 5:00 PM tournament rounds feel like 10:30 PM. Vaishali received the World Under-12 Champion's trophy from the one and only Garry Kasparov! Read More

A moment to cherish

3. Felicitation by AICF in 2015

India finished with five Gold, three silver, and three Bronze medals, and was the best-performing team in the world for the fourth year in a row. AICF felicitated all the medal winners with cash prizes in Delhi. Vaishali won gold medals in the Under-14 girls in 2015 and in the Under-12 in Maribor in 2012. Read More

Under-14 World Champion: Vaishali Rameshbabu

4. Bullet Chess and Doubles with Sagar Shah

It was the closing ceremony of the Aeroflot Open in February 2016. Ten minutes after the end of the closing ceremony, all the participants had exited, but there was still some noise in the hall. The future of Indian chess: Aravindh Chithambaram, R. Vaishali, and R. Praggnanandhaa! They were playing bullet chess. Sagar jumped in and joined Aravindh to play chess doubles against Pragg and Vaishali. Read more

Can you guess who won this game?

5. Double Norms!!

Praggnanandhaa receives his third GM norm while Vaishali gets her second WGM norm at the Gredine Open 2018 in Ortisei, Italy. It was Praggnanandhaa's third GM norm that made him the second youngest GM in the history of the game, while Vaishali's second WGM norm. She was very close to an IM norm as well. For a WGM norm, you need a performance of 2400, while for an IM norm, it is 2450. Vaishali was in the middle with 2425! If she had drawn her last round, she would have made her maiden IM norm. Read More

Healthy competition is always important, and you can see that here between Pragg and Vaishali!!

6. Do you need a Photographer?

At the Coastal Paradise Lateef Villas in Chennai, 14 young talents of Indian chess were learning from Kramnik and Gelfand. IM Sagar Shah was present at the venue with the kids, along with Amruta Mokal, as the managers of the camp, and Amruta taught a few tricks related to photography to the youngsters! Gukesh, Pragg, Vaishali, Leon, Raunak, and 9 more talented kids were part of this camp. Read More

Say Chessssss

7. Best Friends!

We have hundreds of Photos of Vaishali and Rakshitta together, in most of them, they are playing against each other or just chilling with each other, but this photo is special. This photo is again from the Microsense Kramnik Gelfand Program, and Vaishali and Rakshitta, the two girls at the camp, are busy entering all the variations and lines that were discussed in the class. This shows the discipline and dedication of both of them.

All those sleepless nights doing prep are showing results now!

8. 'You should meet your Heroes.'

It's a saying that 'You should not meet your heroes.' I don't believe in that, and neither does Vaishali. Vaishali says, “My inspiration has always been Anand sir. I remember in the 1st or 2nd standard, there was this thing where they used to invite sports champions for the annual days in our school. It was the first time I saw him, and I didn’t know that I would get to train with him later. I think he has been a great inspiration for every Indian chess player.”

How many World Champions are there in this pic??

9. With Hou Yifan

“Currently, Women No.1 is Hou Yifan from China. The first time I saw her was in an open tournament where she was participating. I took a picture as a chess fan, and she didn’t know me. The second time I approached her was a few years later, and she knew me as Pragg’s sister since he was the one taking the picture. Next time I meet her, I want to introduce myself as Vaishali, and hopefully she’ll get to know me.” Vaishali Said. After meeting Hou Yifan for the first time in 2017 at the Chess.com Isle of Man Open

Now Hou Yifan definitely knows who Vaishali is

10. Best Akka!!

It was the World Youth Olympiad 2017 held at Ahmedabad, Gujarat. Russia won the gold, India the silver, and Iran settled for bronze. Indians played decently well for seven wins, one draw, and one loss to Russia. Vaishali played 4 games and scored 3.5 points. The picture here is a perfect example of her being the 'Best Akka.' (elder sister). The results, games, and points do not matter if you have a loving sibling supporting you and making you smile!! Read More

What a gift to Indian Chess

There are many more photos and memories of Vaishali that we will bring to the readers before she plays for the World Championship Title later this year!