Nihal holds Nisipeanu in Sigeman Chess

Grandmaster Nihal Sarin staged a spirited comeback to hold German GM Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu to a draw while top seed Pentala Harikrishna also had to be careful to hold Iranian GM Parham Maghsoodloo to a draw in the second round of TePe Sigeman & Co chess tournament underway here.

Fourteen-year-old Nihal Sarin played the Sicilian Sveshnikov for the first time in his career with the black pieces and Nisipeanu saw an opportunity to win a pawn on the 28th move. However the wily teenager had cleverly set a trap wherein he ended up with a pawn less than his opponent, but with excellent chances to draw. Perfect defense thereon saw Nihal get away with a draw.

In the first round, Nihal had missed a winning position against Ivan Saric of Croatia and had also drawn. Following the second draw in as many rounds, the Kerala based has now crossed 2600 ELO points in live ratings a primary task when he set out to play one of the strongest tournament in his short career thus far.

He would need to maintain his form over the course of the tournament to ensure that he officially achieves the mark in the next FIDE rating list.

Asked about his play, Nihal said, "I was a bit uncertain about the nuances of the opening and got into pressure right from the beginning."