16-yr old Nihal Sarin wins Serbia Open, records second consecutive tournament victory

Nihal Sarin, the 16-year-old chess prodigy, has won the Serbia Open with an unbeaten 7.5/9 and as a result, he has recorded his consecutive tournament victories in Serbia. He has now entered the FIDE Chess World Top 100 players with a live rating of 2655.

A tweet by Chess.com said "Nihal Sarin wins the Serbia Open with an unbeaten 7.5/9. This is his second consecutive tournament victory in Serbia. Nihal has now entered the FIDE Chess World Top 100 players with a live rating of 2655 (+35 elo in Serbia)."

India's chess prodigy, Nihal Sarin

A chess prodigy, Nihal achieved the title of Grandmaster at age 14. He is also the fourth-youngest player in history to cross the Elo rating mark of 2600, accomplishing this feat at age 14.

Nihal won the Gold Medal as part of the Indian team in the 2020 FIDE Chess Olympiad held online. He won the U-18 World Youth Championship held online in a rapid format in 2020. In 2019, aged 15, Nihal had become the youngest Indian to play in the World Cup 2019 where he managed to reach the second round.

Nihal was the world's under-10 champion in 2014 in Durban, South Africa. In 2015, he tied for first place in the world under-12 championship in Porto Carras, Greece taking the silver medal on tiebreaks.

In his effort to popularize the game of chess at the grassroots level, Nihal occasionally performs Simultaneous Exhibitions. At the age of 10 years at Thodupuzha, Kerala, he played simultaneously against 112 players of all age categories winning all his games.

Aditya Mittal earns Grandmaster at 14 years of age

Earlier on the same day Aditya Mittal, at the age of just 14 years earned his first Grandmaster title. He achieved this incredible feat at the ongoing Serbian Open. Mittal managed to score 7/9 including three consecutive wins against Grandmasters to win his first Grandmaster title.

Back in June, Abhimanyu Mishra became the youngest ever grandmaster in history. The twelve-year-old player from New Jersey scored his third GM norm in Budapest, having already crossed the required 2500 Elo rating barrier.

(Image Credits: Chess.com Twitter)