Nihal Sarin celebrated his newly acquired Grandmaster status by bagging the second spot in the 1st Al Sayyah International Blitz in Dubai.
The 14-year-old scored 7.5 out of possible nine to take the clear second spot, winning seven of the nine games. His only loss came against eventual champion Vladimir Fedoseev of Russia.
Sarin, who had earned his third and final GM norm in Abu Dhabi earlier this week, started with five straight wins before Fedoseev halted his juggernaut in the sixth. However, the Indian made a strong comeback by winning the next two rounds and was tied on top spot going into the final round as the Russian suffered a surprise reversal against GM Alexandr Fier in the penultimate round.
Fier, however, paved the way for Fedoseev’s title charge by holding Sarin in the final round while the Russian went on to beat Egypt’s GM Adly Ahmed with white.