Nihal Sarin, 14-year-old boy from Kerala becomes India’s 53rd chess grandmaster despite losing his final round from Richard Rapport of Hungary of Abu Dhabi masters on Wednesday. In the final game, he tallied 5.5 out of 9 points which was enough to become grandmaster.
ALSO READ: Former Indian captain Ajit Wadekar passes away
Nihal isnthe third grandmaster from Kerala, before him SL Narayanan and GN Gopal from Kerala became the grandmasters. The previous Indian to become grandmaster was R Praggnanandhaa, who bagged the title in June this year.
Daniil Dubov of Russia won one of the strongest Asian open thanks to a better tiebreak with a splendid score of 7.5 points out of a possible nine. Anton Korobov of Ukraine and A R Salem Saleh of Uae matched Dubov on points but the Russian was ahead as the tie was resolved.
ALSO READ: BCCI appoints Ramesh Powar as Head Coach of Indian women’s team
In 2015, Nihal won silver in the World Youth Chess Championships at Porto Carras in Greece. Nihal caught the attention of all when he won the (U-10) World Youth Blitz Chess Championships in the UAE back in 2013.