Kerala's Nihal Sarin beats Vishy, Pragg twice in two days, takes second podium in New Year

Nihal Sarin continued his stellar start to the New Year by finishing on the podium for the second event in a row. Nihal followed up his Rapid title with a second place in the Blitz at the Tata Steel Chess India event in Kolkata.

Nihal finished on 11 points, tied with Arjun Erigaisi after 18 rounds of Blitz across two days. American Wesley So took the title on 12 points despite losing the final round to R Praggnanandhaa.

Nihal defeated Wei Yi in his final game to finish with nine wins, including a double against five-time World Champion Viswanathan Anand and India No 2 Praggnanandhaa.

Nihal, 21, hails from Thrissur in central Kerala. With a classical rating of 2716, Nihal is ranked 23rd in the world and is the best among the three Kerala-based GMs. The other Kerala GMs are S L Narayanan and G N Gopal.

Nihal began the second day of Blitz with two wins -- against Anand and Erigaisi -- and as many draws. Against Anand, Nihal pounced on a blunder to secure the full point. He did not give Erigaisi, a brilliant Blitz player himself, any serious chance to counter-attack.

After winning the Rapid title, Nihal honoured his grandfather, A A Ummer, who passed away the same week. "He was the reason I got into chess. He was always supportive of me. I dedicate this win to my grandfather," Nihal said after the Rapid triumph.