Nihal Sarin Is Back!

Anyone briefly familiar with the chess world knows the name Nihal Sarin! More commonly known in the online circuits for his Speed Chess skills, Nihal is often referred to as the “Next Hikaru”.

Nihal Sarin has claimed victory in Tashkent, at the 3rd International President Cup “A”. The tournament was an extremely strong Open organized by the Uzbekistan Chess Federation, allegedly as an attempt to aid their country star, Nodirbek Abdusattorov to get a shot at Candidates 2026 via FIDE Circuit.

The tournament featured many other strong players such as Parham Maghsoodloo, Amin Tabatabaei, Javokhir Sindarov, and many other top players from countries like Uzbekistan and India.

Nihal Sarin scored 6 wins and remained unbeaten for the entire 9 rounds, to clinch the First Place with a final score of 7.5/9. Mighty Uzbek players like Sindarov and an in-form Nigmatov went down to the Indian prodigy. Nihal needed just a draw against Nodirbek Abdusattorov in the final round to claim the victory, which he very comfortably claimed with the black pieces.

Although Nihal is known for his extremely solid playing style, he had been stuck on a dry spell in classical chess for a couple of years now. Nihal Sarin came out of the pandemic like a storm winning two Open Tournaments in Serbia, back in 2021. The following year, Nihal also claimed a massive Gold medal on Board 2 at the Chennai Chess Olympiad. The Indian prodigy has been looking for a breakthrough into the absolute elite since winning these laurels.
After a bit of a slump, Nihal is looking in good shape and his Round 8 win against Sindarov is a testament to that –

Nihal is once again knocking at the door of the 2700 Elo Club. The youngster has previously crossed 2700 twice on the live rating list. At the end of this tournament, Nihal stands at 2690.4*
We will now see Nihal Sarin contesting at the Qatar Masters in just a few more days, which is poised to be one of the strongest Open Tournaments of the calendar!