4 min readUpdated: Apr 16, 2026 11:54 PM IST
With a ticket to the Women’s World Chess Championship secured, Vaishali Rameshbabu revealed that it does take a small village (of grandmasters) to raise a challenger worthy of winning the Candidates. They helped her in small ways and big to become the first Indian woman in 15 years to get a direct shot at being the queen of 64 squares.
This isn’t her team of seconds that helped her with matters on the board — their names she would keep close to her chest until the World Championship contest against Ju Wenjun is over.
One of the stalwarts who helped Vaishali win the Candidates is five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand, who selected Vaishali as part of the first cohort of players at his Westbridge Anand Chess Academy and has since been a mentor to her. It was Anand who urged her to work with Sandipan Chanda, another grandmaster. Their partnership was in place until before the Candidates.
Then there was RB Ramesh, the grandmaster who wields the most influence in Vaishali’s career, having been a guru to her and brother R Praggnanandhaa for over a decade.
Another helping hand was Pranesh, a 19-year-old who became a little brother for moral support when Praggnanandhaa was focusing on his own Candidates campaign in Cyprus.
Pranesh, Vaishali would reveal in an interview with ChessBase India after winning the Candidates, was a source of good vibes and laughs in one of the most stressful environments in the sport. It was Ramesh’s idea to take Pranesh along to Cyprus.
Pranesh (second from left), Vaishali would reveal, was a source of good vibes and laughs in one of the most stressful environments in the sport. (Michal Walusza/FIDE Photo)
“The plan to take Pranesh along to the Candidates was made because he’s a fun person to be around. The idea was that there would be a lot of tense moments during the Candidates, and he will keep things light,” Vaishali told ChessBase India. “There were a lot of high-pressure moments for me. But even after tough games, whenever I went to his room, he would always tell me ‘it’s okay, akka!’ Him coming here was more of a mental thing. And it worked perfectly for me because I prepare a lot but then get tense before the game. He would come around and joke ‘You’re preparing as if this is a world championship.’”
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Rather than playing chess with Vaishali, Pranesh engaged her in table tennis and paddle. Pranesh has never been a second before this, but experiencing the Candidates from so close may help him chart his own career.
Family support behind 🇮🇳 Vaishali Rameshbabu every step of the way ❤️♟️#FIDECandidates #FIDEWomensCandidates #FIDE #Chess #Cyprus pic.twitter.com/8JHtOrpie1
— International Chess Federation (@FIDE_chess) April 15, 2026
“We’d also play some blitz games when I was trying out some openings,” Vaishali said before adding with a chuckle: “During the whole tournament, he was always looking for rest days.”
If Pranesh was playing the role of the cheerful younger brother, grandmaster Adhiban Bhaskaran, back home in India, assumed the role of the encouraging elder brother, constantly reassuring Vaishali that things would work out.
“Anna helped me a lot. Not prep-wise. But I was speaking to him everyday of the Candidates,” she said.
However, she refrained from naming the people in the actual engine room — her team of seconds working tirelessly behind the scenes.
“For now, I keep their names secret,” she smiled.
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