Young Indian player Nihal Sarin emerged winner in the Chess.com’s 2020 Junior Speed Online Chess Championship, beating Russia’s world junior No. 6 Alexey Sarana 18-7 in the final.

The title win earned the 16-year old Sarin $ 8,766 and enabled him to qualify for the 2020 Speed Chess Championship Final which will feature the world’s best players.

Nihal is a chess prodigy, who achieved the title of Grandmaster at age 14. He is also the third youngest player in history to cross the Elo rating mark of 2600, accomplishing this feat at age 14. He was an integral part of the Indian Chess Team that won the FIDE Online Chess Olympiad 2020.

Viswanathan Anand praised Sarin, saying, “Nihal is one of the world’s fastest juniors, and this result confirms it.”

Nihal was born on 13 July 2004 in Thrissur in the Indian state of Kerala and in order to not to get bored during school vacations, his father introduced Nihal to a chess set and his grandfather A. A. Ummar taught him the rules.

(The author is a trainer for Civil Services aspirants. The views expressed here are personal.)