Sergey Alexandrovich Karjakin, . (born 12 January 1990) is a Russian chess grandmaster (formerly representing

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

). A chess prodigy, he previously held the record for the world's youngest ever grandmaster, (until it was eventually taken by

Abhimanyu Mishra Abhimanyu Mishra (born February 5, 2009) is an United States of America, American chess grandmaster. A chess prodigy, he became the youngest player ever to qualify for the grandmaster title on June 30, 2021, at the age of 12 years 4 months and ...

) having qualified for the title at the age of 12 years and 7 months. Karjakin won the European U10 Chess Championship in 1999 and was the World U12 Chess Champion in 2001. He earned the

International Master FIDE titles are awarded by the international chess governing body FIDE (''Fédération Internationale des Échecs'') for outstanding performance. The highest such title is Grandmaster (GM). Titles generally require a combination of Elo rating and ...

title at age 11 and was awarded his grandmaster title in 2003. He represented Ukraine at the Chess Olympiad in

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

, winning team and individual gold. He competed in two more Chess Olympiads for Ukraine and won the Corus chess tournament in 2009, before transferring to Russia. He has since represented Russia five times in the Chess Olympiad, winning individual gold in

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

. He also won team gold with Russia at the

World Team Chess Championship The World Team Chess Championship is an international team chess event, eligible for the participation of 10 countries whose chess federations dominate their continent. It is played every two years. In chess, this tournament and the Chess Olympiads ...

in 2013 and 2019. Karjakin won the 2012

World Rapid Chess Championship The World Rapid Chess Championship is a chess tournament held to determine the world champion in chess played under rapid time controls. Prior to 2012, FIDE gave such recognition to a limited number of tournaments, with non-FIDE recognized tourn ...

and the Norway Chess tournament in 2013 and 2014. He competed at the

Candidates Tournament 2014 The Candidates Tournament 2014 was an eight-player double round-robin chess tournament that took place in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia, from 13 March to 31 March 2014. Participants The participants, in order of rules announced by FIDE, were: Pri ...

, placing second. He won the Chess World Cup 2015, thus qualifying for the Candidates Tournament 2016. He won the tournament and earned the right to challenge for the

World Chess Championship The World Chess Championship is played to determine the world champion in chess. The current world champion is Magnus Carlsen of Norway, who has held the title since 2013. The first event recognized as a world championship was the World Chess ...

. In November 2016, he lost the

championship match A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...

to Magnus Carlsen in the rapid tiebreaks after drawing 6–6 in the classical games. He won the 2016

World Blitz Chess Championship The World Blitz Chess Championship is a chess tournament held to determine the world champion in chess played under blitz time controls. Since 2012, FIDE has held an annual joint rapid and blitz chess tournament and billed it as the World Rapid & ...

. He participated in the Candidates tournament again in

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

, placing third, and qualified for the 2022 Candidates by finishing second in the Chess World Cup 2021. Karjakin's public approval of the

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...

prompted the

Grand Chess Tour The Grand Chess Tour (GCT) is a circuit of chess tournaments where players compete for multiple prize pools. Major tournaments that have been featured in the Grand Chess Tour include Norway Chess, the Sinquefield Cup, and the London Chess Classic. ...

to ban him for future events. He was also banned from playing FIDE-rated events for six months, including

Prodigy

Karjakin learned to play chess when he was five years old. He joined the A.V. Momot Club in

Kramatorsk, Ukraine Kramatorsk ( uk, Краматорськ, translit=Kramatorsk ) is a city and the administrative centre of Kramatorsk Raion in the northern portion of Donetsk Oblast, in eastern Ukraine. Prior to 2020, Kramatorsk was a city of oblast significan ...

, and was coached by Vladislav Borovikov, becoming an

at age 11 years and 11 months. He won the U10 European championship in 1999 and the U12 world championship in 2001. Also in 2001, Karjakin tied for first place in the U14 European championship with

Borki Predojević Borki Predojević ( sr-cyrl, Борки Предојевић; born 6 April 1987 in Teslić) is a Bosnian chess grandmaster, the youngest ever from his country. He is the No. 1 ranked player of Bosnia and Herzegovina as of February 2021. Early ...

and

Rauf Mamedov Rauf Mamedov ( az, Rauf Məmmədov; born 26 April 1988) is an Azerbaijani chess grandmaster and a three-time national champion. He competed in the FIDE World Cup in 2007, 2009, 2011 and 2015. Career Born in Baku, Mamedov started playing chess a ...

, taking the silver medal on tiebreak. In January 2002, he was the official second of fellow Ukrainian Ruslan Ponomariov during the final of the

FIDE World Championship The World Chess Championship is played to determine the world champion in chess. The current world champion is Magnus Carlsen of Norway, who has held the title since 2013. The first event recognized as a world championship was the 1886 match ...

, though Karjakin had only just turned 12 at the time. By scoring grandmaster norms at the Aeroflot Open in Moscow, Alushta tournament in May 2002 and Sudak in August 2002, he surpassed

Bu Xiangzhi Bu Xiangzhi (; born December 10, 1985) is a Chinese chess player. In 1999, he became the 10th grandmaster from China at the age of 13 years, 10 months and 13 days, at the time the youngest in history. In April 2008, Bu and Ni Hua bec ...

to become the world's youngest grandmaster at the age of 12 years 7 months―a record that lasted for 19 years until 2021, when American player

achieved the qualifications for the title at the age of 12 years, 4 months, and 25 days. Both Karjakin and Mishra have faced scrutiny for the methods with which they won their qualification, however; Karjakin's father has been accused of using methods skirting the norms of chess in enabling such an early attainment of the title. In 2003, Karjakin won a six-game match against

Alexandra Kosteniuk Alexandra Konstantinovna Kosteniuk (russian: Алекса́ндра Константи́новна Костеню́к; born 23 April 1984) is a Russian chess grandmaster who is the former Women's World Rapid Chess Champion in 2021, and the for ...

("Dannemann Classico") in Brissago by a score of 4–2 and tied for second in the Ukrainian championship. He competed in the 2004 FIDE World Championship in

Tripoli Tripoli or Tripolis may refer to: Cities and other geographic units Greece *Tripoli, Greece, the capital of Arcadia, Greece * Tripolis (region of Arcadia), a district in ancient Arcadia, Greece * Tripolis (Larisaia), an ancient Greek city in ...

, where he lost in the first round to

Mikhail Kobalia Mikhail Robertovich Kobalia (; born May 3, 1978) is a Russian chess Grandmaster (1997). Together with 43 other Russian elite chess players, Kobalia signed an open letter to Russian president Vladimir Putin, protesting against the 2022 Russian in ...

. Soon after, Karjakin took part in the Dortmund Sparkassen Chess Meeting. Here he defeated the reigning world champion,

Vladimir Kramnik Vladimir Borisovich Kramnik (russian: Влади́мир Бори́сович Кра́мник; born 25 June 1975) is a Russian chess grandmaster. He was the Classical World Chess Champion from 2000 to 2006, and the undisputed World Chess Cha ...

, in a blitz game. In October, Karjakin was the only human to win against a computer in the

Man vs Machine World Team Championship A man is an adult male human. Prior to adulthood, a male human is referred to as a boy (a male child or adolescent). Like most other male mammals, a man's genome usually inherits an X chromosome from the mother and a Y chromo ...

Bilbao ) , motto = , image_map = , mapsize = 275 px , map_caption = Interactive map outlining Bilbao , pushpin_map = Spain Basque Country#Spain#Europe , pushpin_map_caption ...

, Spain, where he was the youngest and lowest-rated player, beating

Deep Junior Junior is a computer chess program written by the Israeli programmers Amir Ban and Shai Bushinsky. Grandmaster Boris Alterman assisted, in particular with the opening book. Junior can take advantage of multiple processors, taking the name Deep Juni ...

. At the

36th Chess Olympiad The 36th Chess Olympiad ( es, La 36a Olimpíada de ajedrez, link=no; ca, La 36a Olimpíada d'escacs), organized by the Fédération Internationale des Échecs (FIDE) and comprising an openAlthough commonly referred to as the ''men's division'', t ...

in Calvià, he was the youngest member of the gold-medal-winning Ukrainian team. He also won an individual gold medal thanks to his score of 6½/7 points playing the second reserve board. In December 2004, Karjakin finished second, behind Boris Gelfand at the

Pamplona Pamplona (; eu, Iruña or ), historically also known as Pampeluna in English, is the capital city of the Chartered Community of Navarre, in Spain. It is also the third-largest city in the greater Basque cultural region. Lying at near above ...

tournament. In the following month, he won the Group B of the Corus Chess Tournament in

Wijk aan Zee Wijk aan Zee ( literally ''Neighborhood at Sea'') is a village on the coast of the North Sea in the municipality of Beverwijk, the province of North Holland of the Netherlands. The prestigious Tata Steel Chess Tournament (formerly called the Coru ...

, thus qualifying for the 2006 Group A. Karjakin entered the world's top 100 in the April 2005

FIDE The International Chess Federation or World Chess Federation, commonly referred to by its French acronym FIDE ( Fédération Internationale des Échecs), is an international organization based in Switzerland that connects the various national c ...

list, at 64th with an

Elo rating The Elo rating system is a method for calculating the relative skill levels of players in zero-sum games such as chess. It is named after its creator Arpad Elo, a Hungarian-American physics professor. The Elo system was invented as an improved ch ...

of 2635. He scored 8½/11 points (+7=3−1) to win the Young Stars of the World tournament held in Kirishi, Russia in May. In July, he tied for third place in the

European Individual Championship The European Individual Chess Championship is a chess tournament organised by the European Chess Union. It was established in 2000 and has since then taken place on a yearly basis. Apart from determining the European champions (open and women's), ...

Career

2006

In 2006, Karjakin played for the first time in the

Corus A tournament, scoring 7/13 points (4 wins, 6 draws, 3 losses). In the same year, he took part in the NH Chess Tournament in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

; it was a match between two teams, "Rising Stars" (made up of Karjakin, Magnus Carlsen, Wang Hao, Daniel Stellwagen, and

Jan Smeets Jan Smeets (born 5 April 1985) is a Dutch chess grandmaster. He is a two-time Dutch Chess Champion. Playing record 2004 was the year that his participation in senior tournaments began to yield encouraging results. He finished in second place i ...

) and "Experience" ( Alexander Beliavsky, Artur Yusupov, John Nunn, and Ulf Andersson), held with the

Scheveningen system The Scheveningen system is a method of organizing a chess match between two teams. Each player on one team plays each player on the other team . The team with the highest number of games won is the winner. This system is a popular way to creat ...

. The former won by 28–22.

2007

Karjakin played again in the NH Chess Tournament for team "Rising Stars", which beat "Experience" by 26½–23½. He was the best player, having scored 7/10, and this earned him an invitation for the 2008

Amber chess tournament The Amber chess tournament (officially the ''Amber Rapid and Blindfold Chess Tournament'', previously ''Melody Amber'') was an annual invitation-only event for some of the world's best players, from 1992 to 2011. Since the second edition, the event ...

. In October 2007, Karjakin finished second behind Bu Xiangzhi in the Blindfold Chess World Cup in

Bilbao ) , motto = , image_map = , mapsize = 275 px , map_caption = Interactive map outlining Bilbao , pushpin_map = Spain Basque Country#Spain#Europe , pushpin_map_caption ...

, scoring 17 points after five wins, two draws and three losses (the scoring system was 3 points for a win, 1 for a draw and 0 for a loss). During the Chess World Cup 2007, which served as a qualification tournament for the

World Chess Championship 2010 The World Chess Championship 2010 match pitted the defending world champion, Viswanathan Anand, against challenger Veselin Topalov, for the title of World Chess Champion. The match took place in Sofia, Bulgaria from 24 April to 13 May 2010, with ...

, Karjakin reached the semi-finals, in which he lost to Alexei Shirov. On the January 2008 FIDE rating list, published just before Karjakin's 18th birthday, he passed the 2700 mark for the first time, often seen as the line that separates "elite" players from other grandmasters, with a new rating of 2732 and a world rank of 13.

2008–2010

In July 2008, Karjakin convincingly won a rapid chess match against GM Nigel Short 7½–2½. In February 2009, he won his first elite tournament in the A group of the Corus chess tournament in

(category XIX), with a score of 8/13. He won the ACP World Rapid Cup, which was conducted from 27 to 29 May 2010, defeating Dmitry Jakovenko in the final by 4–3.

2011

In June 2011, Karjakin took second place in the

Bazna Bazna (german: Baaßen; Transylvanian Saxon dialect: ''Baußen''; hu, Bázna) is a commune located in Sibiu County, Transylvania, Romania. It is composed of three villages: Bazna, Boian (''Bonnesdorf''; ''Bonnesdref''; ''Alsóbajom'') and Velț ( ...

Kings Tournament The Kings Tournament ( ro, Turneul Regilor) is an international chess tournament contested annually since 2007 in Romania. The tournament is organised by the Bucharest chess club ''Elisabeta Polihroniade'' and the company Romgaz. History and or ...

in Mediaș,

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

, after sharing the lead with Magnus Carlsen in the final round, and after ranking was then determined by the tournament’s official tie-break regulations. The final standings listed Carlsen followed by Karjakin, then Hikaru Nakamura,

Teimour Radjabov Teimour Boris oghlu Radjabov (also spelled Teymur Rajabov; az, Teymur Boris oğlu Rəcəbov, ; born 12 March 1987) is an Azerbaijani chess grandmaster, ranked number 18 in the world A former child prodigy, he earned the title of Grandmaster ...

Vassily Ivanchuk Vasyl Mykhaylovych Ivanchuk ( uk, Василь Михайлович Іванчук; born March 18, 1969), also transliterated as Vassily Ivanchuk, is a Ukrainian chess player. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in 1988. A leading ...

, and

Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu (born 1 August 1976) is a Romanian (until 2014) and German (since 2014) chess grandmaster. His peak FIDE rating was 2707 in October 2005, when he was ranked fifteenth in the world, and the highest rated Romanian player eve ...

. The results affected the world rankings, as Carlsen reclaimed first place, and Karjakin passed Kramnik for fourth place. In November, Karjakin shared third place with

and Ian Nepomniachtchi in the category 22 Tal Memorial in Moscow.

2012: World Rapid Champion

In July 2012, Karjakin won the

, a full point ahead of world number one Magnus Carlsen in Astana,

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...

. In the same month, he also tied for first at

Dortmund Dortmund (; Westphalian nds, Düörpm ; la, Tremonia) is the third-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne and Düsseldorf, and the eighth-largest city of Germany, with a population of 588,250 inhabitants as of 2021. It is the la ...

with

Fabiano Caruana Fabiano Luigi Caruana (born July 30, 1992) is an American chess grandmaster. A chess prodigy, Caruana became a grandmaster at the age of 14 years, 11 months, and 20 days—the youngest grandmaster in the history of both Italy and the United Sta ...

but came in second after tiebreak. In November–December 2012, Karjakin shared first place with Wang Hao and

Alexander Morozevich Alexander Sergeyevich Morozevich (russian: Александр Серге́евич Морозе́вич, translit=Aleksandr Sergéevich Morozévich; born July 18, 1977) is a Russian chess player. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE ...

with 6½/9 in the FIDE Grand Prix event held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

2013–2014

In May, he won the inaugural edition of Norway Chess, scoring 6½/9 (+6−2=1), half a point ahead of Carlsen. In March 2014, he finished second place in the FIDE Candidates Tournament held in

Khanty-Mansiysk Khanty-Mansiysk ( rus, Ха́нты-Манси́йск, Khánty-Mansíysk, lit. ''Khanty-Mansi Town''; Khanty language, Khanty: , ''Jomvoćś''; Mansi language, Mansi: , ''Abga'') is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the admini ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

, behind

Viswanathan Anand Viswanathan "Vishy" Anand (born 11 December 1969) is an Indian chess grandmaster and a former five-time World Chess Champion. He became the first grandmaster from India in 1988, and is one of the few players to have surpassed an Elo rating of ...

. His second at the event was former FIDE World Champion

Rustam Kasimdzhanov Rustam Kasimdzhanov; russian: Рустам Касымджанов (born 5 December 1979) is an Uzbek chess grandmaster and former FIDE World Champion (2004-05). He was Asian champion in 1998. In addition to his tournament play, Kasimdzhan ...

. In June 2014, Karjakin won the Norway Chess tournament for the second year running. In this tournament, he competed against nine other players, six of which were rated in the FIDE top 10.

2015

Karjakin won the Chess World Cup 2015 after going down 0–2 to former World Cup Champion Peter Svidler, eventually winning 6–4 in blitz tiebreaks. By finishing in the top two, Karjakin qualified, along with Svidler, for the 2016 Candidates Tournament. In the same year, he took part in the Russia–China Challenge Match. The first part of the event took place from 29 July to 1 August in the

Heixiazi Island Bolshoi Ussuriysky Island (russian: Большо́й Уссури́йский о́стров Bol'shoy Ussuriyskiy Ostrov), or Heixiazi Island (; lit. "black blind island"), is a sedimentary island at the confluence of the Ussuri and ...

, where Karjakin sequentially knocked out four of the five members in the Chinese team: Wei Yi, Ding Liren, Ni Hua and Yu Yangyi. In the second half of the event, which was held in

Harbin Harbin (; mnc, , v=Halbin; ) is a sub-provincial city and the provincial capital and the largest city of Heilongjiang province, People's Republic of China, as well as the second largest city by urban population after Shenyang and largest ...

in December, he also defeated

Wang Yue Wang Yue may refer to: *Wang Yue (chess player) (born 1987) * Wang Yue (biathlete) (born 1991), able-bodied biathlete * Wang Yue (judoka) (born 1997) * Wang Yue (skier) (born 1999), Paralympic skier and biathlete *Death of Wang Yue Wang Yue () ...

, leading team Russia to victory.

2016: Candidates winner and World Blitz Champion

In March 2016, Karjakin won the 2016 Candidates Tournament in Moscow and qualified to play a match against Magnus Carlsen for the title of World Chess Champion. He defeated Fabiano Caruana in the last round of the tournament to finish with 8½ out of 14, one point ahead of Caruana and Anand. The World Chess Championship 2016 took place 11–30 November 2016 in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

City. The format consisted of a maximum of 12 games played under a long classical time control, ending with possible speed chess tiebreak games and an Armageddon game to ensure a winner. Karjakin's record against Carlsen in classical games before the World Championship was: 1 win, 4 losses, and 16 draws. Karjakin won the eighth game, but lost the tenth, leaving the match tied 6–6. Carlsen defeated Karjakin 3–1 in the rapid tiebreaks and won the match. Karjakin won the 2016

, which took place on 29 and 30 December 2016. Before the last round, Carlsen was leading with 16.0/20, while Karjakin was half a point behind. In the last round, Carlsen drew with

Peter Leko Peter Leko ( hu, Lékó Péter; born September 8, 1979) is a Hungarian chess player and commentator. He became the world's youngest grandmaster in 1994. He narrowly missed winning the Classical World Chess Championship 2004: the match was draw ...

, while Karjakin won against

Baadur Jobava Baadur Jobava ( ka, ბაადურ ჯობავა; born 26 November 1983) is a Georgian chess grandmaster and three-time Georgian champion (2003, 2007, 2012). He competed in the FIDE World Chess Championship in 2004 and in the FIDE Wor ...

. Thus, they both finished the tournament with 16½/21. The tie-break (the

Elo Elo or ELO may refer to: Music * Electric Light Orchestra, a British rock music group ** ''The Electric Light Orchestra'' (album), the group's debut album ** ''ELO 2'', the group's second album * ELO Part II, an offshoot band of Electric Light ...

average of the opponents) was used to decide the winner, and as Karjakin's opponents had the better average, Karjakin was crowned 2016 World Blitz Champion. The extent of Karjakin's and Carlsen's domination in the event was shown by the fact that their closest rivals, Daniil Dubov, Hikaru Nakamura and Alexander Grischuk (three-time world blitz champion), were a full two points behind.

2017–2018

In December, he participated in the

London Chess Classic The London Chess Classic is a chess festival held at the Olympia, London, Olympia Conference Centre, West Kensington, London, West Kensington, London. The flagship event is a strong invitational chess tournament, tournament between some of the w ...

, placing eighth with a score of 3½/9. In January, Karjakin competed in the Tata Steel Masters. He placed seventh, scoring 7½/13 (+2−0=11). In March, he competed in the

Candidates Tournament 2018 The Candidates Tournament 2018 was an eight-player double round-robin chess tournament, which was held in Berlin, Germany, between 10–28 March 2018. The winner, Fabiano Caruana, earned the right to challenge the defending world champion, Magnus ...

. He finished third with 8/14 (+4−2=8), one point behind the winner Caruana. In April, he participated in the fifth edition of Shamkir Chess, finishing third with a score of 5/9 (+1−0=8). From 28 May to 7 June, he competed in the sixth edition of Norway Chess, finishing last with 3/8 (+1−3=4).

2019–2020

From 31 March to 9 April, he competed in Shamkir Chess 2019. He placed in a tie for second, with 5 points out of 9. From 5 to 16 December 2020, Karjakin competed in the 73rd Russian Chess Championship. He finished with a score of 7/11, which earned him second place behind winner Ian Nepomniachtchi.

2021

In July–August 2021, Karjakin competed in the Chess World Cup 2021. In round five, Karjakin defeated French GM

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (; born 21 October 1990), often referred to by his initials, MVL, is a French chess grandmaster who is the reigning World Blitz Chess Champion. With a peak rating of 2819, Vachier-Lagrave is the seventh-highest r ...

in the rapid tiebreaker after drawing the classical games. He then knocked out US GM

Sam Shankland Samuel L. Shankland (born October 1, 1991) is an American chess grandmaster. He won the U.S. Chess Championship in 2018. Shankland was California State Champion in 2008, 2009, 2011 and 2012, and Champion of State Champions in 2009. He won bronz ...

in the quarterfinals and eliminated Russian GM Vladimir Fedoseev in the semifinals to qualify for the

Candidates Tournament 2022 The 2022 Candidates Tournament was an eight-player chess tournament to decide the challenger for the World Chess Championship 2023. The tournament took place at the Palacio de Santoña in Madrid, Spain, from June 16 to July 5, 2022,Jan-Krzysztof Duda in the finals to finish second. Karjakin criticised Daniil Dubov for serving as a second for Magnus Carlsen in the

World Chess Championship 2021 The World Chess Championship 2021 was a chess match between the reigning world champion Magnus Carlsen and the challenger Ian Nepomniachtchi to determine the World Chess Champion. It was held under the auspices of FIDE and played during Expo 202 ...

against Ian Nepomniachtchi. This was also criticised by

Sergei Shipov Sergei Shipov (born 17 April 1966) is a Russian chess player, trainer, journalist and writer. He was awarded the title Grandmaster by FIDE in 1996. Career Shipov founded the chess website Crestbook where, among other services, he provides online ...

, who along with Karjakin said that Dubov should not have helped a non-Russian in a match against a fellow Russian. Dubov responded that he considered it to be a match between two individuals and counter-argued that working with Carlsen would improve his chess and hence help the Russian team. 26–28 December 2021, Karjakin participated in the 2021 FIDE World Rapid Championship, where he ended up in 11th place with 9/13 points after tiebreaks.

2022

From 13 to 19 January 2022, Karjakin competed in the

Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2022 The Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2022 is the 84th edition of the annual chess tournament held in Wijk aan Zee. It was held from 14 January to 30 January 2022. No visitors were allowed due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the Netherlands. Norwegian GM ...

. He finished with a score of 7/13, leaving him tied for fifth place. Controversy arose among spectators after the tenth round when Karjakin and Carlsen drew by three-fold repetition after 16 moves in 18 minutes. Some spectators derided Karjakin's decision to enter a drawn line of the Berlin Defence, driven by a movement within the chess community to avoid hasty draws. However, Carlsen was the initiator of the opening, and in order for Karjakin to avoid drawish lines, he would have to play riskily against the World Champion. After the game, Karjakin tweeted "#drawmagnus #saynoto2900" and, in another tweet, posted pictures of identical games that Carlsen played with the caption "Learned some tricks from the World Champion..."

Playing style

Karjakin is known for his defensive skills, which has earned him an informal nickname as Russia's "Minister of Defense". He successfully defended inferior positions against World Champion Magnus Carlsen – himself known for grinding out wins from slightly superior positions – in the World Chess Championship 2016, especially games 3 and 4. Karjakin has no qualms about entering an endgame with a small disadvantage if he deems it his best option as opposed to playing for complications. He is, however, also capable of aggressive play if the position demands it, such as in a 30-move victory over Veselin Topalov at the Gashimov Memorial 2017.

Personal life

He is an

Eastern Orthodox Christian Eastern Orthodoxy, also known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity, is one of the three main branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholicism and Protestantism. Like the Pentarchy of the first millennium, the mainstream (or "canonical") ...

. Karjakin married Galiya Kamalova, secretary of the Moscow chess federation, in May 2014. They have two sons, one born in 2015 and the other born in 2017. He was previously married since 2009 to Ukrainian chess player Kateryna Dolzhykova. On 25 July 2009, by the

decree of the President of Russia A Decree of the President of the Russian Federation (russian: Указ Президента Российской Федерации; ''Ukaz Prezidenta Rossiyskoy Federatsii'') or Executive Order (Decree) of the President of Russia is a legal act ( ...

Dmitry Medvedev Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev ( rus, links=no, Дмитрий Анатольевич Медведев, p=ˈdmʲitrʲɪj ɐnɐˈtolʲjɪvʲɪtɕ mʲɪdˈvʲedʲɪf; born 14 September 1965) is a Russian politician who has been serving as the dep ...

, Karjakin adopted Russian citizenship. Later that year he transferred chess federations from Ukraine to Russia. He has lived in Moscow since 2009."Russia's Patriotic Chess Star From Crimea Sets His Sights On World Title"
Radio Free Europe. (30 March 2016) In 2013 he graduated from the

Russian State Social University Russian State Social University (RSSU; russian: link=no, Российский государственный социальный университет, abbreviated as РГСУ) was the first public university in the Russian Federation to offer ...

with a degree in

social pedagogy Social pedagogy describes a holistic and relationship-centred way of working in care and educational settings with people across the course of their lives. In many countries across Europe (and increasingly beyond), it has a long-standing tradition a ...

Controversies

Vladimir Putin and Sergey Karjakin (2017-07-06) 01

Political views

Born in the

Crimea Crimea, crh, Къырым, Qırım, grc, Κιμμερία / Ταυρική, translit=Kimmería / Taurikḗ ( ) is a peninsula in Ukraine, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, that has been occupied by Russia since 2014. It has a pop ...

n peninsula of

Soviet Ukraine The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic ( uk, Украї́нська Радя́нська Соціалісти́чна Респу́бліка, ; russian: Украи́нская Сове́тская Социалисти́ческая Респ ...

, Karjakin considers himself an

ethnic Russian The Russian diaspora is the global community of ethnic Russians. The Russian-speaking (''Russophone'') diaspora are the people for whom Russian language is the native language, regardless of whether they are ethnic Russians or not. History ...

, and supports

Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin; (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who holds the office of president of Russia. Putin has served continuously as president or prime minister since 1999: as prime min ...

and the

2014 Russian annexation of Crimea In February and March 2014, Russia invaded and subsequently annexed the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine. This event took place in the aftermath of the Revolution of Dignity and is part of the wider Russo-Ukrainian War. The events in Kyiv th ...

(from

Suspension from chess events (2022)

In late February, after comments in support of the

were posted online by Karjakin and fellow Russian grandmaster

, FIDE referred both to the Ethics and Disciplinary Commission. In early March, the

banned Karjakin from its tournaments, saying: "the GCT Board has determined that Grandmaster Sergey Karjakin is banned from all upcoming and future GCT events due to his recent hostile comments on social media supporting Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Russian invasion of Ukraine". On 18 March,

Chess.com Chess.com is an internet chess server, news website and social networking website. The site has a freemium model in which some features are available for free, and others are available for accounts with subscriptions. Live online chess can be pla ...

banned him from participating in all prize tournaments on its website. On 21 March, the FIDE Ethics and Disciplinary Commission (EDC) banned him from playing any FIDE-rated events for six months. The Russian Chess Federation filed an appeal, which was denied.FIDE dismisses Sergey Karjakin's appeal

chess24 chess24.com is an Internet chess server in English and nine other languages, established in 2014 by German grandmaster Jan Gustafsson and Enrique Guzman. Among people collaborating with chess24 are World Champions, Grandmasters and International ...

, May 6, 2022 The decision meant that Karjakin was not able to participate in the

awarded Karjakin a medal of the order 'For Merit to the Fatherland' after Karjakin was suspended by FIDE for publicly supporting Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

Notes

References

External links

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Interview with game review
{{DEFAULTSORT:Karjakin, Sergey 1990 births Living people Chess grandmasters Russian chess players Ukrainian chess players Ukrainian people of Russian descent World Youth Chess Champions Chess Olympiad competitors Ukrainian emigrants to Russia Naturalised citizens of Russia Sportspeople from Simferopol Eastern Orthodox Christians from Russia Russian State Social University alumni