Nihal Sarin secured his first win of the Chennai Grand Masters 2025 event by defeating India No 2 Arjun Erigaisi in a round 4 game on Sunday.

Kerala GM Nihal had missed drawing and winning chances in the earlier rounds against Vincent Keymer and Anish Giri respectively. But tonight he wasn't going to pass the golden chance against the former India No. 1.

Nihal played white against Erigaisi and was daring throughout. He made, not one, but two queen sacrifices, once during a tight middle game and the second, toward the end.

Nihal made a stunning knight move followed by a queen sacrifice. Though he got Erigaisi's queen in return, Nihal ended up with a minor piece in a rook ending but had three extra pawns.

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Erigaisi blundered in the end game, letting Nihal queen. Though Nihal's freshly-promoted queen was instantly captured, it allowed him the chance to take Erigaisi's rook with a fork. Nihal ended up with a knight and a passed h-pawn, forcing Erigaisi to resign. 

Nihal is one of the 10 participants in the Chennai GM Masters. He will play black against American GM Awonder Liang in round 5 on Monday. With an Elo rating of 2692, Nihal is the highest-rated GM from Kerala. S L Narayanan and G N Gopal are the other two GMs from Kerala.

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