Vignesh NR becomes India's 80th Grandmaster, joins his brother Visakh
Vignesh and Visakh became the first set of siblings to become Grandmasters after Vignesh attained the status last month.
Vignesh NR became the 80th Grandmaster of India. (Source: Chessbase India)
After winning the 24th NordWest Cup 2023 at Bad Zwischenahn in Germany and defeating German IM Ilja Schneider, Indian chess player Vignesh NR became the 80th Grandmaster of India.
After surpassing 2500 in the live ratings, the youngster from Chennai attained the milestone.
Vignesh joins his younger brother Visakh who attained the Grandmaster title in 2019 as the 59th Grandmaster of India. Vignesh and Visakh become the first pair of siblings to become grandmasters.
"It’s really nice to see my brother finally made GM title requirements. Maybe it’s just the first step toward a higher level. We will be looking forward to improving more and playing good games and impacting positivity in the world," GM Visakh told Chessbase India on his brother's feat.
Recently, Vignesh won bronze for his team Railways Sports Promotion Board A at the National team Chess Championship Open 2023 along with his brother Visakh. He scored an unbeaten 7/9.
With Vignesh joining the list of Grandmasters, India already has three grandmasters since the start of 2023 with 19-year-old Koustav Chatterjee and 16-year-old M Pranesh becoming the 78th and 79th Grandmaster respectively in the first week of January.