I’m trying to play chess freely and not care about results: Nihal Sarin

The Indian GM – on the cusp of 2700 Elo – hasn’t had a full-time coach since 2021.

Bengaluru: Seven years ago, Nihal Sarin became the youngest-ever Indian to cross the 2600 Elo barrier in the live ratings. He was 14 years and 10 months then.

Indian chess player Nihal Sarin. (FIDE)

Over the years, the Indian prodigy group has swelled in numbers, skyrocketed in ratings and performances and one of them even went on to become world champion last year at 18. Three young Indians feature in the top 10 live ratings today, two of them in the top five. Nihal is not one of them. His journey has been markedly different. Unlike his Indian peers, the 20-year-old who played chess online extensively growing up, picked up the tag of being a monster at speed chess. Over the past couple of months, he appears to have begun focusing on playing more classical chess and has won two of his last three Open tournaments. His latest win came at the Tashkent Open on Saturday – with an unbeaten 8/10 score.

“I’m just trying to play a lot more this year,” Nihal tells HT, “Last year, I felt like I did not play many tournaments at all. I am trying my best to change up a few things, play more freely and not care too much about results.” He’s headed for a table tennis session with a friend and has plans to squeeze in a tennis session before flying back home.

The top seed at the tournament, Nihal emerged as outright winner in a field that had eight players rated above 2600 Elo. He took home $20,000 for his efforts. In November last year, the Uzbek city was the setting for another open tournament win, even if not as formidable in its field – the Presidents Cup.

It came after a difficult phase which saw him being left out of the Indian team for the Olympiad – where they won a historic double gold. Nihal had won an individual gold for his Board 2 performance in the 2022 Olympiad that saw India B team finish with a bronze. In the two years that followed, Nihal wasn’t seen much on the classical chess horizon while his fellow Indian peers made rapid strides, breaching barriers and jostling with each other to climb to the India No 1 spot.

Nihal crossed the 2700 Elo barrier twice in the live ratings – in 2023 and 2024. His Tashkent Open win earned him 7.1 Elo points that now sees him placed at 2694.1. Once again on the cusp of the 2700 Elo club. You’d imagine seeing himself through to the published ratings as a 2700 player would figure high on his checklist. “Yes, but also no. I am trying my best to not think or care about it. In the bigger picture, what really changes? Nothing much. So, what’s the point in bothering about it?”

Though he’s worked with several trainers over the past few years, Nihal hasn’t had a full-time coach since 2021. There appears to have been a change on that front since this year. One that’s working well for him so far, he says.

Nihal will play the Menorca Open in April followed by the Asian Championships and the Sharjah Masters. Does he feel he’s hit the stride with his results? “It’s very hard to say. I managed to play two tournaments really well. It’s also not easy to keep up the consistency and keep playing well. Bad tournaments can happen at any point and it’s much easier to lose rating points than gain in general. Especially in Open tournaments.”

Srinath Narayanan, Nihal’s former coach, points out that though his trajectory has been different, the Kerala player’s strength was never in doubt. “Nihal was always pretty strong in classical chess but his natural style wasn’t conducive to scoring a high percentage of wins in the Open tournaments, which has become the only way to the top – even for 2600 Elo prodigies,” Srinath tells HT, “It is something that he had to work on and that work seems to be paying off when we look at his recent classical results. Honestly, I feel his results are still catching up with his potential.”