Nihal Sarin – The Bullet Beast sets a record!
Indian prodigy Nihal Sarin is one of the most popular and strongest players in the online chess scene. Grew up playing online blitz and bullet on different websites, Nihal even gave fast chess beasts like Hikaru Nakamura a run for their money from a very young age.
On December 25, 2024, Nihal Sarin broke the ALL-TIME Lichess Bullet Rating Record by reaching a massive 3441! Nihal achieved this rating while playing a long 56-game bullet chess (1+0) match against the Turkish Prodigy Ediz Gurel. Gurel, to his credit, is an exceptionally strong bullet chess player with 3200+ elo on the website. However, Nihal seemed just to blow his opponent off the board in every game, winning the match with 40 wins, 3 draws, and 13 losses. Following is the real-time replay of the game in which Nihal Sarin hit the peak:
Nihal, at the moment, stands at #1 on the Lichess Bullet rating leaderboard with a margin of almost a hundred points, ahead of GM Andrew Tang! Tang is among the highest rating achievers on the website with 3375 being his peak, preceding Alireza Firouzja who has a peak of 3383. Even RebeccaHarris aka Daniel Naroditsky who is a formidable bullet chess player has a respectable peak rating of 3326. Even Magnus Carlsen, who rarely is seen playing on the website, has peaked at 3379. Comparing all these numbers to the new record just elevates its weight further.
It is a pity that Nihal Sarin is absent from the Speed Chess Extravaganza in New York. But there is no doubt that the prodigy is here to stay at the top of speed chess rankings for years to come!
