Grabbing the opportunity: Nihal, who replaced Gukesh in the draw, made it count.
| Photo Credit: DEBASISH BHADURI
Diminutive he may be but Nihal Sarin is a man with nerves of steel and a big heart. The 21-year-old, whose grandfather A.A. Ummar passed away on Thursday, put the personal tragedy behind him and emerged champion in the rapid open event of Tata Steel Chess India 2026 at the Dhono Dhanyo Auditorium here on Friday.
He finished on 6.5 points, half-a-point ahead of Viswanathan Anand. Arjun Erigaisi (5) took the third spot. Nihal dedicated the title to his grandfather, saying that he had introduced him to chess and had been a great support.
Russia’s Katernya Lagno Kateryna remained unbeaten to clinch the women’s title, finishing with 6.5 points and 1.5 points ahead of the field. Aleksandra Goryachkina took second place five players, including India’s Divya Deshmukh, D. Harika and R. Vaishali finished with 4.5 points in the third.
Nihal, who began the final day of the rapid event in joint lead with the legendary Anand, drew two games including in the final round against the maestro himself and beat American Wesley So in the eighth to take the top prize to add to his triumph (in the rapid) in 2022.
With the title on the line, he played out a solid draw against Anand to reign supreme. Incidentally, the Kerala-based player wasn’t in the original list of participants and got a chance after world champion D. Gukesh withdrew due to personal reasons. He made the opportunity count with an impressive performance, losing only one game (to Arjun Erigaisi) to begin the year with a bang.
The results: Open: Rapid: Seventh round: Arjun Erigaisi drew with Wesley So; R. Praggnanandhaa drew with Nihal Sarin; Hans Niemann bt Aravindh Chithambaram; Vidit Gujrathi drew with Viswanathan Anand; Volodar Murzin bt Wei Yi.
Eighth: Wei drew with Vidit; Aravindh lost to Murzin; Anand drew with Praggnanandhaa; So lost to Nihal; Arjun bt Niemann.
Ninth: Nihal drew with Anand; Niemann drew with So; Murzin beat Erigaisi; Vidit drew with Aravindh; Praggnanandhaa lost to Wei.
Women: Seventh: Nana Dzagnidze drew with Aleksandra Goryachkina; Vantika Agrawal lost to Divya Deshmukh; R. Vaishali bt Carissa Yip; Katernya Lagno bt Rakshitta Ravi; D. Harika drew with Stavroula Tsolakidou.
Eighth: Goryachkina drew with Tsolakidou; Rakshitta drew with Harika; Yip drew with Lagno; Divya bt Vaishali; Dzagnidze drew with Vantika.
Ninth: Vantika lost to Goryachkina; Vaishali bt Dzagnidze; Lagno drew with Divya; Harika bt Yip; Tsolakidou lost to Rakshitta.
Final placings (top-5): Open: 1. Nihal 6.5 points, 2. Anand 6, 3. Arjun 5, 4. So 5, 5. Niemann 5, 6. Praggnanandhaa 4.5, 7. Vidit 4.5, 8. Wei 3.5, 9. Murzin 3.5, 10. Aravindh 1.5.
Women: 1. Lagno 6.5 points, 2. Goryachkina 5, 3. Harika 4.5, 4, Vaishali 4.5, 5. Divya 4.5, 6. Dzagnidze 4.5, 7. Yip 4.5, 8. Tsolakidou 4, 9. Vantika 3.5, 10. Rakshitta 3.5.
Published – January 09, 2026 11:12 pm IST
