Nihal Sarin did every little thing he was requested to on Thursday. Going into the ultimate spherical, the joint-second within the standings, Nihal, beat the in a single day chief, Iran’s Bardiya Daneshvar — who was sitting with a robust 7.0/8 — to place up a robust struggle for the gold medal. Nonetheless, an inferior tie-break rating saved him on second because the No.1 seed from India settled with a silver medal within the Asian particular person chess championship performed in Al Ain (UAE).
Nihal didn’t have the most effective of begins. He stumbled within the fifth spherical, scoring solely 3.0 factors within the first 5 rounds. Nonetheless, the Kerala wonderboy made amends swiftly to win his final 4 rounds, confirming his qualification for the upcoming FIDE World Cup, set to occur in India.
5 different Indians — Pa. Iniyan, R. Raja Rithvik, S.L. Narayanan, M. Pranesh and G.B. Harshvardhan — additionally certified for the World Cup 2025.
.@NihalSarin clinches the 🥈 silver medal on the Particular person Asian Chess Championship! ♟️
Subsequent cease: FIDE Chess World Cup 2025, representing India on the worldwide stage! 🚀🇮🇳#S8ULFTW #GameShuru #Gameशुरु pic.twitter.com/UWSBVgpRco
— S8UL (@S8ulesports) May 15, 2025
Bardiya Daneshvar bagged gold even after shedding the highest board conflict towards Nihal. Daneshvar had an incredible outing in Al Ain, successful six out of the primary eight rounds, which ultimately helped him topple the Indian. Uzbekistan’s Shamsiddin Vokhidov earned a bronze.
4 Indians, Pa. Iniyan, R. Raja Rithvik, S.L. Narayanan and M. Pranesh all completed with the identical factors as Vokhidov — 6.5/9 — however the tie-break scores denied them from getting any medals.
An Indian within the girls’s part noticed an identical destiny within the outcomes. India’s Vantika Agrawal got here agonisingly shut for a podium end, however her tie-break rating — the worst amongst all 4 who completed joint first — noticed her end fourth, simply outdoors the medal rivalry. She beat Mongolia’s Bat-Erdene Mungunzul within the ninth (remaining) spherical to complete on equal phrases with Mungunzul and two different gamers — Kazakhstan’s Xeniya Balabayeva and China’s Yuxin Tune — on 7.0/9 factors.
Yuxin Tune grabbed the gold medal whereas Mungunzul completed second for silver and Balabayeva bagged the bronze medal.
© IE On-line Media Companies Pvt Ltd