Nihal Sarin

Nihal Sarin
Nihal playing in the 2023 FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Championship
Personal information
Born (2004-07-13) 13 July 2004
Thrissur, Kerala, India
Chess career
CountryIndia
TitleGrandmaster (2018)
FIDE rating2716 (March 2026)
Peak rating2716 (January 2026)
RankingNo. 24 (March 2026)
Peak rankingNo. 24 (March 2026)

Nihal Sarin (born 13 July 2004) is an Indian chess grandmaster and chess prodigy. In 2018, he passed the Elo rating of 2600 at 14 years old, which at the time made him the third youngest player in history to do so.

As a junior player, Nihal was the World Under-10 champion in 2014 and placed 2nd in the 2015 World Under-12 championship. Nihal won the Gold Medal as part of the Indian team in the FIDE Online Chess Olympiad 2020. He won the U-18 World Youth Championship held online in rapid format in 2020. In 2026, he won the Rapid section of the Tata Steel Chess India.