Nihal Sarin, Praggnanandhaa get wild cards for FIDE Chess World Cup

Young Indian chess players Nihal Sarin and R Praggnanandhaa have received the FIDE president's wild cards in the men's section for the forthcoming Chess World Cup in Russia.

The 16-year old Grandmaster Sarin and 15-year old GM Praggnanandhaa will join Grandmasters Vidit Santhosh Gujrathi, P Harikrishna, Aravindh Chidambaram, P Iniyan and D Gukesh in the World Cup to be held in Sochi from July 10.

"Rising Indian stars Nihal Sarin & Praggnanandhaa get the FIDE President's (@advorkovich) wildcard. @NihalSarin & @rpragchess will play in the @FIDE_chess World Cup next month!" Chess.com-India tweeted.

Sarin and Praggnanandhaa are mentored by five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand at WerstBridge Capital Chess Academy. Apart from the duo, Gukesh, Raunak Sadhwani and R Vaishali are personally mentored by Anand.

Earlier, Gukesh, the second youngest Grandmaster ever in chess history, was awarded the FIDE president's wild card for the World Cup. Iniyan had last month won the AICF online qualifying event to book a berth in the World Cup.

In the women's section, GM D Harika, WGM Bhakti Kulkarni, WGM R Vaishali and IM Padmini Rout have qualified for the World Cup. The FIDE Chess World Cup 2021 will be a Classical event with standard time control.