Nihal Sarin Crosses 2700 for the Third Time
A few years ago, Nihal Sarin’s name used to be right at the top whenever there was a conversation about prodigies with huge potential in chess. The 20-year-old took significant strides prior to the pandemic, even cementing himself as a strong 2600+ GM in 2019, at the tender age of just 14. Nihal is currently playing at the IV Menorca Open in Spain, where the Indian has managed to cross the 2700 Elo barrier in classical chess for the THIRD time in his career! Let’s take a look at Nihal’s trajectory and his recent form.
Nihal was amongst India’s crop of the brightest chess talents until he got outshone by his contemporaries, namely, Gukesh Dommaraju, Arjun Erigaisi, Praggnanandhaa, etc. Coming out of the pandemic, Nihal made rapid progress and shot his rating up from 2620 to 2650 in no time by winning back-to-back Open tournaments in Serbia. Nihal’s Gold Medal performance on Board 2 for his team, India B, at the 2022 FIDE Chess Olympiad, Chennai, remains one of the highlights of his classical chess career. Many followers, including Nihal’s ex-trainer, Srinath Narayanan, pointed out how Nihal’s style of play is not ideal to go and farm rating at Open tournaments. The play of Nihal Sarin is often said to be, quote-unquote, too correct.
It took Nihal a year to capitalise on his strengths and cross the 2700 Elo mark during the 2023 European Club Cup. After dropping some rating, Nihal again crossed the mark 6 months later at the Menorca Open itself, in 2024. However, Nihal succumbed to another slump and dropped as low as 2668.
Nihal finally caught fire in November 2024 during the President’s Cup in Tashkent, winning the Open tournament ahead of the likes of Nodirbek Abdusattorov. After a three-month hiatus, Nihal Sarin came back to the board for yet another Open tournament on the Uzbek land, Tashkent Open.
While Nihal has found an ideal 4/4 start at the Menorca Open, it remains to be seen if the Indian speedster can finally establish himself among the elites. Nihal Sarin will be seen playing very actively in the coming days, at tournaments such as Asian Continental Chess Championship, Sharjah Masters, Dubai Open, World Rapid & Blitz Team Championships, etc.
Photo courtesy: Uzbekistan Chess, 2700chess, Menorca Chess
