India’s Malayali superstar Nihal Sarin beats World Champion Gukesh twice in four days

India's Malayali GM Nihal Sarin has beaten World classical chess champion D Gukesh twice in four days at the Menorca Open in Spain.

After beating Gukesh in an exciting round three game on April 8, Nihal delivered the world champion a second blow on Saturday with victory in their 8th-round meeting.

Nihal, Gukesh and Pentala Harikrishna are three Indians in a six-player field in the Masters segment of the popular event, played in the rapid format. The ten-round event is structured as a double round-robin.

In their first meeting, Nihal won a tactical battle in the middle game with white pieces. Tonight, he played black and, after nullifying the initial aggression from Gukesh, the GM from Thrissur in Kerala, launched a counterattack. His better-placed pawns on the queen side troubled Gukesh.

Nihal managed to get a passer on the 'b' file, which became a pebble in Gukesh's white king's shoe. After 51 moves, Gukesh resigned, knowing he could not prevent the pawn from queening without giving up a rook.

For Gukesh, who is the world champion in the classical (longest format), the Rapid segment (Menorca uses a time control of 30 minutes + 10-second increment per move) is not a strong point. However, he is still the third-best Rapid player in India after Arjun Erigaisi and Viswanathan Anand.

Nihal, 21, is only the third GM to emerge from Kerala after G N Gopal and S L Narayanan.