India’s Nihal Sarin becomes 53rd Grandmaster

There is an old saying – ‘big things come in small packages’. 14-year-old Nihal Sarin has proved this by becoming India’s fifty-third Grandmaster (GM). He is one of the youngest one to compete the third Grandmaster norm at the Abu Dhabi Masters on Tuesday and became India’s fifty-third GM.

Since last two decades, chess in India has become one of the most successful sports, which has resulted in many brilliant individual performers. First among the Indian individuals to achieve the Grandmaster title was country’s well-known chess player Vishwanathan Anand. The grandmaster started the trend in 1988 and 52 other followed his footsteps.

Other than Vishwanathan Anand, a remarkable achievement was accomplished by Koneru Humpy, who in 2002 became India’s first woman Grandmaster and set the milestone. Another Indian Grandmaster – R Praggnanandhaa – has written history. He is the youngest Indian to do so and the second youngest in the entire world of all time.

Nihal Sarin, who became the 53rd Grandmaster, captured 5.5 points in nine matches. Sarin attained his first GM norm at the TV2 Fagernes and his second at the Reykjavik Open. For his final and third norm, he finished with a 6.0/9 score in both the tournament to prepare for his third GM norm.

According to PTI report, Sarin defeated Romanian GM Constantin Lupulescu in the eighth round where he required just one point to become India’s fifty-third GM. Sarin belongs from Kerala and is the third GM from the state after G N Gopal and S L Narayanan.