Unperturbed: Nihal says he is not worried too much about his rating in the classical format.
| Photo Credit: B. VELANKANNI RAJ
It is not often that one earns praise from Magnus Carlsen. Nihal Sarin’s liking for the faster formats in chess is known, and the Norwegian World No. 1 mentioned how good the 21-year-old Indian could be.
The huge compliment aside, the Indian GM seems to have realised that his play in the classical time control hasn’t progressed as much as he would have liked.
And, Nihal has turned to GM Vishnu Prasanna — the former trainer of World champion D. Gukesh — to regain his mojo in the classical time control and improve his rating.
“Yeah.. I am working with Vishnu Prasanna. Nothing specific, just a few things. Grateful to work with him, and we just talk a lot of chess,” Nihal told The Hindu.
Asked if not crossing the 2700 ELO in classical chess was weighing heavily on his mind, Nihal said: “Not really. I am trying my best not to think about it.”
The GM is in the city for the Quantbox Chennai Grandmasters tournament and scalped Arjun Erigaisi in the fourth round on Sunday to recover from a slow start.
“So far, it has been an eventful tournament for me. It has been very interesting.”
He credited five-time World champion Viswanathan Anand for the surge in Indian chess and said India’s first GM inspired a generation of kids to take up chess professionally.
Nihal is all praise for the 19-year-old D. Gukesh, who clinched the World title late last year.
“He is an unbelievable player. The level he showed in the Candidates tournament was otherworldly, and he maintained that in the final [against Ding Liren] also.
Published – August 11, 2025 09:55 pm IST
