India, Jan. 9 -- Nihal Sarin won the Rapid competition of the Tata Steel Chess open category with 6.5 points and dedicated the title to his grandfather AA Ummar who died on Thursday night.

"He was the reason I got into chess," a visibly emotional Sarin said here on Friday after winning a tournament he was playing only as a replacement for D Gukesh. "I don't think I was exactly expected to win anything." This was Sarin's second title here, having won in 2022.

Kateryna Lagno (6.5) beat defending champion Aleksandra Goryachkina by a massive 1.5 point to win the women's competition. The winners got $10,000 each.

Playing here after six years, Viswanathan Anand (6) needed a win against Sarin to win but was held to a draw and finished second ...