Nihal Sarin becomes first ‘Super Grandmaster’ in chess from Kerala

India's Malayali chess star Nihal Sarin has officially become a Super Grandmaster. Nihal Elo in classical chess hit 2700 points in the latest rating list updated by FIDE on October 1.

Players rated 2700 or above are classified as Super GMs in chess. The 21-year-old Nihal from the Thrissur district is the first Kerala player to achieve the title of Super Grandmaster. Kerala has two other GMs -- S L Narayanan and G N Gopal.

Norway's five-time World Champion Magnus Carlsen is on top of the list with a rating of 2839, while the USA's Hikaru Nakamura (2816) and Fabiano Caruana (2789) are second and third respectively.

Nihal's rise in rankings was due to a series of improved performances in recent months. He was joint-best among Indians in the recently concluded Grand Swiss event, one of the strongest competitions in the FIDE circuit. Nihal finished on 7 points, which was more than what India's World Champion D Gukesh (6) managed in the classical event held in Samarkand, Uzbekistan.

Meanwhile, Gukesh slipped out of the top 10 in the World rankings, reaching No. 11. The 19-year-old has not won a title since becoming the classical men's world champion last December.

Arjun Erigaisi has returned to the India No 1 position on 2773 rating points, while R Praggnanandhaa (2771) is India No 2 as per the latest FIDE rankings. Viswanathan Anand, Vidit Gujrathi and Aravindh Chithambaram are the other Super GMs from India at present.