Defending champion Nihal Sarin reaches the final of Junior Speed Chess Championships

Indian chess prodigy Nihal Sarin has stormed into the final of the Junior Speed Chess Championships after defeating Armenia's Haik Martirosyan in the semifinals on Monday.

Sarin made it into the finals with a score of 20.5 to 9.5. The defending champion of 2020 Championships, Sarin will play the final later this month.

Nihal Sarin, 17, became a grandmaster at the age of 14 and is currently in the top 10 playersin India. In 2013, he won the U-10 World Blitz Championship. A year later, he won the U-10 World Youth Chess Championship with a score of 9/11.

Sarin went on to have an impressive outing last year. He won the Junior Speed Chess Championship, the gold medal as part of the Indian team in the FIDE Chess Olympics, and the U-18 World Youth Championship.

The world no. 92, Sarin presently holds a FIDE rating of 2652.

The Junior Speed Chess Championship presented by ChessKid is an online competition for top junior chess players around the globe. Sarin earlier beat USA's grandmaster Nicolas Checa 20.5-7.5 in the Round of 16, followed by a win over Amin Tabatabaei in the quarters by 23.5-4.5.

In the other semifinal, another Indian Raunak Sidhwani will be facing Iran's Parham Maghsoodloo. The winner will take on Sarin later this month.