International Master Nihal Sarin yesterday became the 53rd Grandmaster of India despite losing his final round game to Richard Rapport of Hungary in the ninth and final round of Abu Dhabi Masters here. The 14-year-old Nihal tallied 5.5 points out of a possible nine and the final GM norm came the Kerala boy's way with one round to spare.

Daniil Dubov of Russia won one of the strongest Asian open thanks to a better tiebreak with a splendid score of 7.5 points out of a possible nine. Anton Korobov of Ukraine and A R Salem Saleh of Uae matched Dubov on points but the Russian was ahead as the tie was resolved.