Chess: 14-year-old Nihal Sarin becomes third-youngest player in history to cross 2600 rating

Indian chess prodigy Nihal Sarin has become the third youngest player in history to have crossed the 2600 Elo rating barrier.

The 14-year-old is playing at the TePe Sigeman & Co chess tournament at the moment. He was rated 2598 heading into the tournament but earned two points with the help of draws against higher-rated Grand Masters. He is now the youngest Indian ever to have reached 2600.

The youngest chess player to have crossed 2600 is American John Burke. But his achievement isn’t taken into consideration by many as he jumped from 2258 in July 2015 to 2603 in September 2015 with a k-factor of 40.

The other player to have crossed 2600 before Nihal is China’s Wei Yi, who achieved the landmark at the age of 14 years, 4 months and 30 days. Sarin has gotten there at the age of 14 years and 10 months.

Also read: For 14-year-old Grandmaster Nihal Sarin, focus now shifts to taking on the world’s best

Sarin has bettered the previous Indian record by nearly a year. Parimarjan Negi had achieved 2600 Elo at the age of 15 years and 11 months.

Sarin has beaten some of the sport’s all-time greats in getting to the mark. Wesley So reached 2600 when he was 15 years old. Magnus Carlsen got there when he was 15 years and 2 months old, Fabiano Caruana when he was 15 years and 8 months old, and Anish Giri when he was 15 years and 9 months old.