Nihal Sarin enters the 2700 club
Despite the ongoing deflation, the most elite chess club has a new member. Grandmaster Nihal Sarin is now officially over 2700 ELO! This happened today after round 4 of Menorca Chess Open 2025 where the rating favorite Nihal Sarin won his 4th game in a row. Menorca has brought so far 7 ELO to Nihal Sarin, and adding to that his 7,1 ELO gained at the Georgy Agzamov Memorial, this brings a total of 14,1 points and a new rating of 2701.1 for the Indian.
More about Nihal Sarin
- World Under-10 Champion (2014)
- World Under-12 Silver Medalist (2015)
- World Under-18 Champion (2020, online)
- FIDE Online Chess Olympiad Gold Medal (2020)
- Junior Speed Chess Champion (2020, 2021)
- FIDE Chess Olympiad Bronze Medal (2022)
- Chess.com Global Championship Runner-Up (2022)
- Tashkent Open Agzamov Memorial Champion (2025)
- Grandmaster at 14 (2018); crossed 2600 Elo at 14 (2018)
Nihal Sarin was born on July 13, 2004, in Thrissur, Kerala, India, to Sarin Abdulsalam, a dermatologist, and Shijin Ammanam Veetil Ummar, a psychiatrist. He has a younger sister, Neha. Spending his early years in Kottayam, Nihal displayed extraordinary cognitive abilities from a young age. By three, he could identify the capitals and flags of 190 countries and recite the scientific names of insects and plants. He spoke fluent English in kindergarten and mastered multiplication tables by age six.
Chess entered Nihal’s life at six during a school vacation when his father introduced him to a chess set to keep him engaged. His grandfather, A. A. Ummar, taught him the rules, and Nihal quickly showed promise. At Kottayam’s Excelsior English School, he received formal training from coach Mathew Joseph Pottoore, who initially taught him twice a week before offering specialized individual classes. In 2011, Nihal’s family relocated to Thrissur, where he joined Devamatha CMI Public School and continued his chess journey.
Nihal’s competitive career began at seven, with his first tournament requiring him to sit on three chairs to reach the board. He quickly dominated Kerala State Championships, winning the Under-7 title in 2011, Under-9 and Under-11 titles twice each, and the Under-15 title once. At eight and ten, he was the state Under-19 runner-up, and at ten, he placed second in the 2015 State Senior Championship, earning the right to represent Kerala at the National Challengers Championship.
His international breakthrough came in 2014 at the World Youth Chess Championship in Durban, South Africa, where he won the Under-10 title with a score of 9/11, earning the FIDE Candidate Master (CM) title. That same year, he defeated his first titled player, IM Jonathan Westerberg, at the World Junior Championship in Pune. In 2015, starting as the 28th seed, Nihal won silver at the World Under-12 Championship in Greece, defeating top seeds IM Awonder Liang and FM Nodirbek Abdusattorov, and crossed the 2300 Elo mark to become a FIDE Master (FM).
Nihal’s rapid progress continued with his first International Master (IM) norm at the 2016 Cappelle-la-Grande Open, where he defeated a grandmaster for the first time. He earned additional IM norms at the 2016 Sunway Sitges Open and the 2017 Aeroflot B Open, becoming an IM at age 12. His first Grandmaster (GM) norm came at the 2017 TV2 Fagernes International, followed by norms at the 2018 Reykjavik Open and Abu Dhabi Masters, where he became India’s 53rd GM at 14, the 12th youngest in history. In 2018, he also crossed the 2600 Elo mark, making him the third youngest player to achieve this feat at the time.
In 2019, Nihal became the youngest Indian to compete in the FIDE World Cup, reaching the second round. His 2020 achievements were remarkable: he won the Junior Speed Chess Championship (JSCC), the Under-18 World Youth Championship (online, rapid format), and a gold medal with the Indian team at the FIDE Online Chess Olympiad. He defended his JSCC title in 2021, defeating GM Raunak Sadhwani. In 2022, Nihal was runner-up in the Chess.com Global Championship, earning $100,000, and won a bronze medal at the FIDE Chess Olympiad with a 2774 performance rating.
In 2025, Nihal won the Tashkent Open Agzamov Memorial, scoring an unbeaten 8/10 to claim first place. His FIDE rating reached 2692 by November 2023 and climbed to 2700 in March 2024, briefly making him a super grandmaster. As of July 2024, his rating stood at 2684, with experts predicting he could challenge for the world championship. In April 2025, Nihal, alongside GM Aravindh Chithambaram, joined S8UL Esports, marking the organization’s entry into competitive chess. Nihal expressed excitement about representing India and inspiring new players through this partnership, which highlights chess’s growing presence in the esports ecosystem.
Currently Nihal Sarin is playing the Menorca Chess Open 2025 and you can follow the games live here