Indian Grandmaster Nihal Sarin defeated GM Bardiya Daneshvar of Iran in the final round to clinch the silver medal in the open category at the Asian Chess Championships 2025 in Al Ain, UAE, on Thursday.
Nihal and Bardiya finished the tournament on the same number of points (7/9), but owing to a better tiebreak, the latter was crowned champion. Both players, however, qualified for the FIDE Chess World Cup 2025.
Going into the final round, Bardiya held the sole lead, but Nihal played an excellent queen’s pawn opening to outclass his opponent in the final round and confirmed a medal for India.
Incidentally, Nihal was the top seed of the tournament, but after a poor start to the tournament, he was out of the top 10 at the halfway mark. However, a streak of four consecutive wins pushed him to a podium finish.
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In the women’s section, IM Vantika Agrawal also claimed a big win over Bat-Erdene Mungunzul of Mongolia, who was leading the tournament before the final round.
This result completely opened up the women’s sections as four players including Vantika finished the tournament with the same score line of 7/9 points at the top of the leaderboard.
However, it was a heartbreak for Vantika as she missed out on the podium based on the tiebreaks and finished in fourth position, while China’s Yuxin Song clinched the title.
Srihari LR becomes India’s 86th Grandmaster (GM)
On the other hand, the 19-year-old Srihari LR had a remarkable tournament as he scored his third GM norm at these Asian Championships after a great performance of 5.5/9 points.
With this, he has now become the 86th Grandmaster of India and the first after a long gap of one year.
The podium, however, eluded Srihari. In pursuit of victory to secure a podium-finish, he succumbed to fellow Indian player Iniyan Pa.