Keralite chess prodigy Nihal stuns legend Karpov

Keralite chess prodigy Nihal stuns legend Karpov
Nihal Sarin with Chess-legend Anatoly Karpov

Chess prodigy Nihal Sarin added another feather to his cap when he pulled off a surprising 2-2 draw against former World champion Anatoly Karpov in a four-game rapid and blitz challenge exhibition match at Cap d’Agde, France, late on Saturday.

Nihal, who became a Grandmaster at the age of 14 last year, defeated Karpov in the fourth blitz after the 68-year-old Russian Grandmaster surged ahead by winning the third game. The first two rapid games had been drawn. 

Karpov, who was the world’s highest rated player for over 100 months - a feat only bested by Garry Kasparov and Magnus Carlsen - was the chief guest at the closing ceremony of the tournament. When he conceded to the request to play a four-game rapid and blitz challenge match, the organisers of the event did not think twice to pick Nihal, the youngest in the fray, as his opponent. 

In both the rapid games that were drawn, the teenager enjoyed a distinct advantage over the legendary player, but failed to capitalise on his chances. In the first blitz game, Karpov, playing with white pieces, showed his true colours as he got the better of his young opponent in 69 moves. In the second, where Nihal played with white, he gained the upper hand right from the beginning and forced Karpov, who was the official world champion from 1975 to 1985, to resign on the 28th move.

Last year at the Tata Steel Chess India Rapid tournament in Kolkata, Nihal had forced a draw with some of the heavyweights in the fray, including five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand, Russian Grandmaster and former Word Cup runner-up Sergey Karjakin, 2013 World rapid champion Shakhriyar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan, and two top-ranked Indians - P Hari Krishna, and Vidit Gujarati. 

Following his exploits in the tournament, Anand had tipped him to be a future world champion.

Son of Dr A Sarin and Dr Shijin A Ummer of Sruthi, Ayyanthole, in Thrissur district, Nihal became the 12th youngest Grandmaster in chess history and only the third from Kerala to join the elite club in August 2018. He is India’s 53rd Grandmaster. 

A Class 10 student of Devamatha CMI Public School, Thrissur, Nihal had become the World No. 1 player in the U-14 category in 2018. He had also clinched an individual gold medal at the World Youth Chess Olympiad in Ahmedabad and helped India finish runner-up in the previous year.

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