Global Championship Finals: Nihal Sarin beats Anish Giri in Armageddon, to face Wesley So in summit clash

Nihal Sarin beat Anish Giri in an Armageddon game to reach the summit clash of the Chess.com Global Championship Finals on Saturday.

FILE PHOTO: Nihal Sarin

An irrepressible Nihal Sarin produced another come-from-behind triumph to nail fancied Dutch Anish Giri 5-4 for a place in the title-clash of the $500,000 Chess.com Global Championship Finals on Saturday.

The talent from Thrissur won the Armageddon game with white pieces after the eight rapid games left the players locked at 4-4.

He will take on USA’s Wesley So who carved out a 5-3 victory over compatriot Hikaru Nakamura after six successive draws.

The losing semi finalists will receive $50,000 each while the finalists will battle it out for the top prize of $200,000. The runner-up will get $100,000.

On Saturday, when the contest resumed at 2-2, Anish won the fifth game to surge ahead. For the second time in the match, Nihal immediately drew level to make it 3-3. The following two games ended as draws.

In the decisive Armageddon game, the battle was evenly fought till Nihal’s 99th move. At this stage, Anish’s response gave Nihal a chance to seize and the youngster did not miss it.

Nihal proceeded accurately in an ending involving a rook each and pawns. Sensing that he had reached a point of no return, Anish resigned on the 104th move when he realised the only way to stop Nihal’s lone pawn from queening was by sacrificing his rook.