Nihal Sarin in GCL (Photo by GCL) BENGALURU: The ITC Windsor hotel, home to the six teams competing in the 2026 Global Chess League (GCL), sits at the heart of the city. Walk in after the security check at the gate, past doormen greeting you with folded hands, and a left turn down the hallway from reception leads to the dining area, where Dutch No.

1 Anish Giri can be found sipping a hot chocolate latte beside his Alpine Pipers teammate and close friend Vidit Gujrathi. Look towards the other corner and Levon Aronian and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave are reading the morning newspaper.

For Nihal Sarin, the most effective player for the American Gambits so far this season, the time on the clock matters little here. For him, it is still midnight.

And why wouldn't it be? com in an exclusive interaction on Wednesday.

" We were playing a board game called Salem. It's a social deduction game."

Among those who stayed up late with him was his American Gambits teammate and World Championship challenger Javokhir Sindarov, an avowed video game enthusiast who, by his own admission, played Counter-Strike between rounds during his Candidates win in Cyprus earlier this year. " Sindarov is a good friend of mine, very humble, and down to earth.

He is very chill and always smiling," the 22-year-old added. Video games, however, have never held the same pull for Nihal.

Suggest a game of padel or a board game instead, and he'll be the first to put his hand up. Tuesday's late night, though, wasn't about squeezing in one more round of board games.

It was about waiting up for the US Open men's quarterfinal between Ben Shelton and Carlos Alcaraz. But even staying awake till 7 am wasn't quite enough; the match was delayed after the preceding women's quarterfinal between Jessica Pegula and Emma Navarro ran long, and Nihal, a long-time tennis fan, eventually lost his battle with sleep.

Amid a schedule that has him playing almost two games of intense rapid chess almost every day, Nihal hasn't lost track of the sport he has followed for years. And what about the Williams sisters' return to professional tennis?

" I didn't expect that at all," he said while raising both his eyebrows. " The tendency to even compete at that level at that age is truly extraordinary."