Young Nihal Impresses With Calm Demeanour

The eyebrows arched as realization dawned on Nihal Sarin about the crucial ingredient missing from his game. American Hikaru Nakamura beat the 14-year-old from Thrissur in the Tata Steel Chess India on Saturday and then pointed out: “I think the position was a bit unbalanced, and Nihal instead of keep on waiting in that position – one thing you learn as you become stronger and you play a lot is just being able to sit on a position and keep making moves even if there is not necessarily a plan. Nihal tried to be active and that gave me an opportunity as my bishops became too strong.”

Even before the event, it was accepted that playing the tournament was a great opportunity for Nihal. However, the question was how he would cope with pressure

“There was some pressure as I was playing my first super tournament, but otherwise nothing,” he responded when asked about the experience of playing against big stars.

Nihal, who became the 12th-youngest GM in chess a few months back and has a rating of 2576 in classical chess, impressed with the calm manner in which he tackled the pressure of playing some of the biggest stars of the game.

He finished the rapid section with six draws and three defeats to finish with three points. But the morale booster is that he has come in for praise from every player.

“He is obviously a great talent and a player for the future,” is the consensus among Grandmasters here.

Considering the positions he got into the game against Viswanathan Anand, he is sure to give his opponents a tough time as he improves.

Nihal, who does not have an idol, was satisfied with his performance. “I think I played well in most of the games here. I made two draws on each of the three days so that is good as it was my first super tournament.”

His coach, Srinath Narayanan, a young Grandmaster from Chennai, said Nihal is hard working and likes to play a lot of online chess. “He works on tactics and basics but he has mostly learnt his chess by playing online. He plays a lot against Nakamura, mainly blitz, and though initially he would lose easily, last year he beat Nakamura for the first time,” said Srinath, who has been working with Nihal since 2016.

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