All posts tagged: Nihal Sarin

Divya Deshmukh teams up with Carlsen; Sindarov, Nihal in same team for GCL | Chess News

Divya Deshmukh teams up with Carlsen; Sindarov, Nihal in same team for GCL | Chess News

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2 min readMumbaiJun 29, 2026 07:47 PM IST Defending champions Alpine APL Pipers have retooled their roster by adding Magnus Carlsen, Koneru Humpy, Divya Deshmukh, Anish Giri, Vidit Gujrathi and reigning world rapid champion Volodar Murzin for the upcoming season of Global Chess League, to be held in Bengaluru from September 3 to 13. This will be Deshmukh’s first GCL while Carlsen will return after sitting out season 3. World champion Gukesh, women’s world championship contender Vaishali Rameshbabu and R Praggnanandhaa have skipped this season. Meanwhile, at the GCL Draft held in Mumbai on Monday, the FYERS American Gambits managed to put together an intimidating line-up bolstered by recent Bullet Chess Champion Nihal Sarin, world championship contender Javokhir Sindarov and three-time world blitz champion Bibisara Assaubayeva. The fourth edition of the Global Chess League will see five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand switch teams for the first time in league history, swapping his Ganges Grandmasters jersey for PBG Alaskan Knights, where he will be joined by Arjun Erigaisi. The team will also have Turkish phenom Yagiz …

Nihal Sarin secures direct qualification for Esports Nations Cup 2026 Chess event

Nihal Sarin secures direct qualification for Esports Nations Cup 2026 Chess event

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Indian Grandmaster Nihal Sarin has secured a direct invitation to the chess competition at the Esports Nations Cup 2026, becoming the only Indian player to qualify automatically through the official Champions Chess Tour (CCT) leaderboard. The tournament will be held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, from November 2 to 8 and will feature 128 players competing for a prize pool of USD 600,000 (approximately ₹5.7 crore). Nihal earned his place after a strong campaign across the CCT 2025-26 season, which included the Speed Chess Championship, Chess.com Open and the Titled Tuesday Grand Prix circuit. Despite narrowly missing direct qualification through the Chess.com Open, the Indian Grandmaster accumulated crucial ranking points through consistent performances across multiple events. He eventually finished with 139 leaderboard points, placing him among the top six players in the overall ENC Chess rankings and securing one of the 64 direct invitations available through the CCT pathway. Nihal joins elite international field The direct qualification places Nihal alongside some of the biggest names in world chess, including Magnus Carlsen, Hikaru Nakamura, Alireza Firouzja, Jan-Krzysztof …

Nihal Sarin secures direct qualification for Esports Nations Cup 2026 Chess event

Nihal Sarin qualifies for the Esports World Cup 2026 Chess event

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Indian Grandmaster Nihal Sarin, representing S8UL Esports, has officially qualified for the Chess main event at the Esports World Cup (EWC) 2026 through the Champions Chess Tour (CCT) 2025-2026 Leaderboard. He joins teammate Aravindh Chithambaram as the only two Indian players to qualify for the prestigious tournament so far. The CCT 2025-2026 season featured two major events, the Speed Chess Championship (SCC) 2025 and Chess.com Open (CCO) 2026. The top three players from both tournaments secured direct qualification to the EWC, while players finishing between fifth and ninth in SCC, along with the remaining participants in CCO, earned points toward the CCT Leaderboard based on their performances. In addition to these events, players accumulated points through the Titled Tuesday Grand Prix (TTGP) circuit, which was divided into Autumn, Winter, and Spring splits, each featuring 13 Titled Tuesday tournaments. Players earned leaderboard points in every Titled Tuesday event across the season. At the end of the season, the top nine players in the final CCT Leaderboard standings, excluding already-qualified players, secured their spots at EWC 2026. …

Nihal Sarin stuns World Champion Gukesh at Menorca Masters with ruthless attacking display | Chess News

Nihal Sarin stuns World Champion Gukesh at Menorca Masters with ruthless attacking display | Chess News

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4 min readApr 9, 2026 11:01 PM IST Cyprus and Menorca are separated by miles of Mediterranean Sea, but India’s top chess hopes share the same troubled waters. At the Candidates Tournament 2026, R Praggnanandhaa’s title shot is fading with every round. Hundreds of kilometres away at the Menorca Masters 2026, reigning World Champion D Gukesh suffered another brutal setback, losing to compatriot Nihal Sarin in the third round. Gukesh arrived in Menorca as a two-time champion of the event, but his current form tells a very different story. His first mistake against Nihal came as early as the ninth move. In the opening, instead of exchanging queens, he retreated his queen to c7. This allowed Nihal to activate his dark-squared bishop by moving it to f4, followed by an e4 pawn push. Slowly, Nihal began to exert pressure on Gukesh by gaining space in the centre. Nihal, displaying killer instinct, then played bishop to g6, attacking Gukesh’s dark-squared bishop and eyeing a complete dismantling of his opponent’s defensive setup. Here, the youngest World Champion …

Nihal Sarin beats world champion Gukesh Dommaraju

Nihal Sarin beats world champion Gukesh Dommaraju

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Nihal Sarin emerged victorious over the reigning world champion Gukesh Dommaraju in an all-India Round 3 clash at the 2026 Menorca Chess Masters on Wednesday. Playing with the black pieces, Gukesh employed the Slav defence. He erred straight out of the opening, misplacing his queen twice in the first 12 moves to hand Nihal the advantage. Nihal, looking to get his campaign back on track after having lost the previous day, played all the right moves once he realised he had the advantage. He went out an all-out attack, forcing a resignation out of Gukesh in 34 moves. The win propelled Nihal to sole lead in the six-man competition with 2 points in three rounds. Gukesh, meanwhile, sits dead last in the standings with just 1 point. Pentala Harikishna, the other Indian in contention, has accumulated 1.5 points after 3 rounds. Disclaimer: We do not own any of the content, ideas, images, or text presented here. All rights belong to their respective owners. For more information and to view the original source, please visit the …

State-wise list of all Indian Grandmasters

State-wise list of all Indian Grandmasters

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India has transformed into a global chess superpower, producing some of the sharpest minds the game has ever witnessed. As of the current records, India boasts an incredible roster of 94 chess Grandmasters, with Mayank Chakraborty the latest to be added to the list. Here, we take a look at the state wise list of Indian Grandmasters: 1. Tamil Nadu (35 GMs) It is impossible to talk about chess in India without starting in Tamil Nadu. Leading the entire nation by a massive margin, this southern state has produced a staggering 35 Grandmasters. The chess revolution here was sparked by Viswanathan Anand, who became India’s very first GM. Today, the state’s legacy continues with globally recognized prodigies like Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa, world champion Gukesh Dommaraju, and Rameshbabu Vaishali. Other names from this state include Krishnan Sasikiran, SP Sethuraman, and Aravindh Chitambaram etc. GMs from Tamil Nadu: Viswanathan Anand, Krishnan Sasikiran, Ramachandran Ramesh, Magesh Chandran Panchanathan, J Deepan Chakkravarthy, Subramaniam Arun Prasad, Sundaranjan Kidambi, RR Laxman, Baskaran Adhiban, SP Sethuraman, MR Venkatesh, Shyam Sundar, Vishnu Prassanna, Aravindh …

‘No big deal’: Nihal Sarin reacts after being shown middle finger during online blitz game | Chess News

‘No big deal’: Nihal Sarin reacts after being shown middle finger during online blitz game | Chess News

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2 min readUpdated: Feb 27, 2026 02:19 PM IST Indian Grandmaster Nihal Sarin has broken his silence on an incident where he was shown the middle finger by Armenian player Emin Ohanyan during an online blitz game on the Take Take Take app. Nihal took X (formerly Twitter) to clarify that it is no big deal. “No big deal. Regarding the recent incident, I want to clarify that I was not offended. Things happen in the heat of the moment,” he posted on his X account. The incident happened during TakeTakeTake’s Titled Tuesday event, where the two players were involved in a very tense endgame battle. Regarding the recent incident, I want to clarify that I was not offended. Things happen in the heat of the moment — no big deal. cc @TakeTakeTakeApp — Nihal Sarin (@NihalSarin) February 26, 2026 Nihal held a slightly better position on the board with a rook and pawn while Ohanyan had a bishop and a pawn left. Both players were facing the time clock pressure and Nihal had less …

“No big deal” – Nihal Sarin as opponent flips middle finger after losing

“No big deal” – Nihal Sarin as opponent flips middle finger after losing

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A day after he was shown a middle finger after an online Titled Tuesday match, Indian Grandmaster Nihal Sarin finally broke his silence. “No big deal,” he wrote in a social media post, showcasing his classy demeanor. “Regarding the recent incident, I want to clarify that I was not offended. Things happen in the heat of the moment,” he added. Regarding the recent incident, I want to clarify that I was not offended. Things happen in the heat of the moment — no big deal. cc @TakeTakeTakeApp — Nihal Sarin (@NihalSarin) February 26, 2026 After a tense endgame where Nihal managed to outsmart his opponent in his trademark style, GM Emin Ohanyan flipped the middle finger to his on stream camera. Take Take Take app, where the event was held had shared the video on social media, causing widespread outrage with many rushing to defend Nihal. They eventually took down the video and posted a clarification note. Just to clarify: We don’t interpret the hand gestures to be towards Nihal, but towards the computer/game itself. …

World champion Gukesh on Vladimir Kramnik’s cheating allegations: ‘Don’t support most of it’ | Chess News

World champion Gukesh on Vladimir Kramnik’s cheating allegations: ‘Don’t support most of it’ | Chess News

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3 min readFeb 24, 2026 07:21 PM IST World champion D Gukesh has finally spoken out about the unsubstantiated — but widespread — cheating allegations that have clouded the sport of chess over the last few years. The 19-year-old world champion believes that people have made cheating a “bigger problem than it is”. The youngest world champion in the sport’s history also criticised former world champion Vladimir Kramnik for his allegations about cheating in recent years. In recent times, Kramnik has rebranded himself as an anti-cheating crusader of sorts, levelling accusations on social media about online cheating in chess. Kramnik’s claims have involved lots of finger pointing at multiple players such as grandmaster Daniel Naroditsky. But there has been little actual evidence to back those allegations. Recently after the untimely death of Naroditsky, who was one of the most popular content creators in the sport, Kramnik was roundly criticised by everyone from Indian GM Nihal Sarin to FIDE president Arkady Dvorkovich besides legends of the game like Viswanathan Anand and Levon Aronian also speaking out …

Nihal Sarin, Vantika Agrawal finish as runners-up

Nihal Sarin, Vantika Agrawal finish as runners-up

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The closing rounds of the Tata Steel Chess India Blitz delivered relentless tension, late twists, and fitting champions in both sections. In the Open event, Wesley So showed remarkable consistency to clinch the title with a round to spare, while the Women’s section ended with a thrilling playoff that saw Carissa Yip hold her nerve to lift the trophy. Meanwhile, India’s Nihal Sarin and Arjun Erigaisi clinched the silver and bronze medals, respectively, in the open section, whereas Vantika finished as runner-up in the women’s. The decisive stretch saw Wesley capitalise when Vidit Gujrathi blundered an entire rook in a double rook endgame. Wei Yi outplayed Viswanathan Anand by calmly consolidating an extra exchange, while R Praggnanandhaa opened lines for his rook and established a powerful knight outpost to defeat Hans Niemann. Nihal Sarin also struck with a key win over Anand, while Wesley held Wei Yi to maintain control of the standings. As the finish line approached, Arjun Erigaisi scored a notable win by preventing Anand from castling. Still, Wesley stayed just ahead despite …