Nihal Sarin secures direct qualification for Esports Nations Cup 2026 Chess event

Indian Grandmaster Nihal Sarin has secured a direct invitation to the chess competition at the Esports Nations Cup 2026, becoming the only Indian player to qualify automatically through the official Champions Chess Tour (CCT) leaderboard.

The tournament will be held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, from November 2 to 8 and will feature 128 players competing for a prize pool of USD 600,000 (approximately ₹5.7 crore).

Nihal earned his place after a strong campaign across the CCT 2025-26 season, which included the Speed Chess Championship, Chess.com Open and the Titled Tuesday Grand Prix circuit. Despite narrowly missing direct qualification through the Chess.com Open, the Indian Grandmaster accumulated crucial ranking points through consistent performances across multiple events.

He eventually finished with 139 leaderboard points, placing him among the top six players in the overall ENC Chess rankings and securing one of the 64 direct invitations available through the CCT pathway.

Nihal joins elite international field

The direct qualification places Nihal alongside some of the biggest names in world chess, including Magnus Carlsen, Hikaru Nakamura, Alireza Firouzja, Jan-Krzysztof Duda and Denis Lazavik.

The ENC chess event will begin with a round-robin stage featuring 16 groups of eight players each. The top performers will advance to a 64-player single-elimination playoff bracket.

A maximum of two players can represent each country at the finals. While Nihal has already secured his berth, another Indian player can still qualify through the regional qualification pathway. India's qualifiers are scheduled to take place in June.

Nihal, who represents esports organisation S8UL Esports, previously competed at the Esports World Cup and has also qualified for the upcoming edition through the CCT rankings route.

The 21-year-old described the opportunity to represent India in a nation-based format as a special moment and said he is looking forward to competing against some of the strongest players in the world under the Indian flag.