GM Ramesh R B

The name Ramachandran B is his father's name and the player should be referred to by his name, Ramesh.

GM Ramachandran Ramesh, better known as RB Ramesh, is an Indian grandmaster and renowned chess coach. In his playing career, Ramesh reached a peak rating of 2507 and won the 2002 British Chess Championship.

He started coaching at the age of 22 and was so successful at it that he was able to retire as a player at age 32 to coach full time. His notable students have included GMs Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, Vaishali Rameshbabu, and Aravindh Chithambaram. He has also been the captain and leader trainer for several Indian teams at the Chess Olympiad, including bronze medal-winners in 2014 and 2022.

Following his team's 2022 performance, Ramesh was interviewed by FM Niranjan Navalgund of Chess.com and discussed his coaching career and philosophy as well as the 2022 Chess Olympiad. About his team's performance in 2022 and his role in it, Ramesh said: "It is what the players did that got the medal. The role of the captain/coach is just to be a catalyst. We try to facilitate the process, but the process is basically what the players do. Our job was to keep them in good form, to keep their concentration in the tournament until the end."

You can read the full interview here.

About coaching more generally, Ramesh says, "Coaching is an evolving process. We are never the same as individuals, we keep changing for better or worse. After working for a couple of decades as a trainer, I feel that the role of psychology has been drastically underestimated by trainers around the world. I want to focus more on that along with the technical aspects of the game."