Nihal Sarin wins Cluj Grand Prix Rapid 2024

by Shahid Ahmed - 19/06/2024

Nihal Sarin won Cluj Grand Prix Rapid 2024 by winning a must-win Armageddon with the white pieces. This is the second leg of the Romania GP 2024. The profusely talented teenager scored 8.5/10 and so did GM Imre Balog (HUN). Their seventh round battle against each other ended in a draw. Thus they had to play Armageddon. Nihal won Armageddon to become the champion. Balog finished second. GM Jaime Santos Latasa (ESP) scored 8/10 to finish third. The total prize fund of the tournament was €30000. The top three prizes were €5000, €3000 and €2000 each respectively. A total of 314 players including 22 GMs, 11 IMs and 3 WGMs have registered from 17 countries across the world. Vishy Anand's presence as the VIP of the event added more to the prestige of the event. Photo: Federația Română de Șah

Nihal is the victor in a must-win Armageddon

When it comes to speed chess, one should never bet against Nihal Sarin, be it over-the-board or online. He is that good when the time is less. This is Nihal's first rating tournament triumph of the year. We hope this is the first of many to come in the next few months. The third leg of the GP will take place at Brasov in Romania from 15th to 21st July 2024. Use code: CBI20 to get 20% off on registration.

Top 3 (L to R): 2nd GM Imre Balog (HUN) 8.5/10, 1st GM Nihal Sarin 8.5/10 and 3rd GM Jaime Santos Latasa (ESP) 8/10 with Vishy Anand | Photo: Federația Română de Șah

Cluj Grand Prix Rapid is the second event in Romanian GP 2024 | Photo: Federația Română de Șah

Nihal Sarin makes 30 moves in 1 minute against Imre Balog in Armageddon, Commentary by IM Sagar Shah | Video: ChessBase India

Nihal Sarin en route his Armageddon win against GM Imre Balog (HUN) | Photo: Saji Mathew

Nihal Sarin's is both a positional and tactical monster | Nihal vs Nevednichy, Commentary by IM Sagar Shah | Video: ChessBase India

Nihal Sarin in action at various rounds | Photo: Saji Mathew

Nihal Sarin scored an unbeaten 8.5/10, gained 9.1 Elo rating points, won Armageddon and became the champion

Women Top 3 (L to R): 3rd WGM Petra Papp (HUN) 6.5/9, 2nd FM Nadya Toncheva (BUL) 7/9 and 1st IM Irina Bulmaga (ROU) 7.5/9 with Vishy Anand | Photo: Federația Română de Șah

Photo Gallery

Handshake before starting the game | Photo: Federația Română de Șah

Top boards playing on the stage | Photo: Federația Română de Șah

Players, parents and accompanying persons at the closing ceremony | Photo: Federația Română de Șah

The tournament hall at Cluj - BT Arena in Cluj, Romania | Photo: Federația Română de Șah

For more photos, please check the album here.

Vishy Anand to meet Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf in Cluj, Romania | Video: ChessBase India

Nihal Sarin talks about the Gukesh vs Ding Liren World Championship Match | Video: ChessBase India

A total of 314 players including 22 GMs, 11 IMs and 3 WGMs participated from 17 countries across the world in this two-day ten round Rapid Rating Open tournament. It was organized by Federația Română de Șah at Cluj - BT Arena in Cluj, Romania on 13th and 14th June 2024. The time control of the event was 15 minutes + 5 seconds increment per move.

Final standings

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB4	TB5
1	3	GM	Nihal, Sarin	IND	2653		8,5	1	65	7	2574
2	6	GM	Balog, Imre	HUN	2613		8,5	2	67	7	2551
3	2	GM	Santos Latasa, Jaime	ESP	2659		8	0	66	6	2481
4	4	GM	Shevchenko, Kirill	ROU	2633	Csu Ase Bucuresti	8	0	64,5	6	2470
5	12	GM	Erdos, Viktor	HUN	2519		8	0	60,5	7	2408
6	11	GM	Gavrilescu, David	ROU	2535	Csu Ase Bucuresti	8	0	59,5	7	2379
7	16	GM	Solodovnichenko, Yuri	UKR	2457		8	0	58	8	2326
8	8	GM	Sokolov, Ivan	NED	2598		8	0	57	8	2321
9	1	GM	Fedoseev, Vladimir	SLO	2737		8	0	57	7	2307
10	18	GM	Glek, Igor	BEL	2415		7,5	0	63	7	2326

Details

Links

Official site

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