India’s first Woman Grandmaster calls Vaishali’s push to remove women’s chess titles 'unfair and hurtful'

“I saw your article yesterday @chessvaishali, and I was visibly distraught,” Vijayalakshmi wrote on X. “As India’s first woman Grandmaster, I find it deeply unfair and hurtful that you would suggest abolishing these titles. You mentioned these titles create a “false sense of achievement,” yet they played a crucial role in your own rise to recognition. If you really believed they were so, I wonder: Why take them regardless of their low value?”