Last minute replacement, navigating grief: Nihal Sarin shows he can't be counted out

High performance sports epitomise challenges. It frequently forces an athlete to push beyond their limit, both physically and emotionally. Those who push through are lauded as heroes; their stories passed down from generation to generation.

Day 3 of the 2026 Tata Steel Chess Rapid was one such moment for GM Nihal Sarin. He battled through the grief of losing his maternal grandfather AA Ummar to win the title by half-a-point ahead of veteran Viswanathan Anand.

"He [Ummar] was the one who taught me chess, he taught me how the pieces move, he is the sole reason why I got into chess in the first place," said Nihal on the chess.com LIVE stream after his triumph.

"I want to dedicate this win to him," he added.

It was after the second day’s play – the day he registered three straight wins to climb to joint lead with Anand – that Nihal learnt about the unfortunate death of his grandfather.

He wanted to fly back to his home but decided to stay back on the insistence of his mother.

On the final day of the competition, Nihal played out two draws and registered a win over the 2024 World Rapid champion Volodar Murzin to claim the Tata Steel Rapid title for the second time in his career.

Aside from the emotional battle, what’s more impressive is the fact that Nihal wasn’t even supposed to compete in the tournament. He was only extended a last minute invite after the reigning world champion Gukesh Dommaraju pulled out citing personal reasons.

He didn’t have the best of starts either in the tournament, scoring just 1.5 points after three rounds on the opening day before turning it around.

Having broken through as a prodigy along with the likes of R Praggnanandhaa, Gukesh and others in mid 2010s, Nihal has seen his contemporaries take a big leap to reach the elite level over the last few years from the sidelines.

For the longest time it felt as if the 21-year-old Nihal had stagnated as he fell down the pecking order. He started training under the aegis of Gukesh’s former coach Vishnu Prasanna and emerged as one of the stronger players on the circuit last year, even breaching the 2700-rating barrier in classical chess.

He also enjoyed a good run at the 2025 FIDE World Rapid and Blitz C’ships, finishing just outside the top four in open blitz.

Now with a strong outing to start the new year with an impressive tournament performance rating of 2839, Nihal seems to be on the rise.