'Speed demon' shifts gears to ace classical chess

TEN years ago, a boy from Kerala made headlines as a chess prodigy. Nihal Sarin had won the under-10 title in the World Youth Chess Championship held in Durban, South Africa, in 2014.

- MANISHA V C S @Kochi

TEN years ago, a boy from Kerala made headlines as a chess prodigy. Nihal Sarin had won the under-10 title in the World Youth Chess Championship held in Durban, South Africa, in 2014. Since then, the youngster has been conquering heights with his rapid thinking and quick moves, a style that suited the bullet and blitz formats of the game of 64 squares.

Conquering setbacks with resilience, Nihal is now back to winning ways in the classical format. The 20-year-old grandmaster emerged victorious in the 18th Tashkent Open Agzamov Memorial in Uzbekistan, in March. In an unbeaten run, Nihal claimed eight out of a possible ten points in the tournament that featured 153 competitors including six players with ELO ratings above 2,600.