Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

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 ...

chess prodigy The term chess prodigy refers to a young child who possesses an aptitude for the game of chess that far exceeds what might be expected at their age. Their prodigious talent will often enable them to defeat experienced adult players and even title ...

Abhimanyu Mishra Abhimanyu Mishra (born February 5, 2009) is an 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 25 days, beating Sergey ...

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 ...

Chess Olympiad The Chess Olympiad is a biennial chess tournament in which teams representing nations of the world compete. FIDE organises the tournament and selects the host nation. Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, FIDE held an Online Chess Olympiad in 2020 and ...

Corus chess tournament The Tata Steel Chess Tournament is an annual chess tournament held in January in Wijk aan Zee, the Netherlands. It was called the Hoogovens Tournament from its creation in 1938 until the sponsor Koninklijke Hoogovens merged with British Steel ...

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 ...

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 ...

Norway Chess Norway Chess is an annual closed chess tournament, typically taking place in the May to June time period every year. The first edition took place in the Stavanger area, Norway, from 7 May to 18 May 2013. The 2013 tournament had ten participants, in ...

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 ...

Chess World Cup 2015 The Chess World Cup 2015 was a 128-player single-elimination tournament, single-elimination chess tournament held in Baku, Azerbaijan, from 10 September to 5 October 2015. Sergey Karjakin won the competition on tie-breaks after a four-game final ...

Candidates Tournament 2016 The Candidates Tournament 2016 was an eight-player double round-robin chess tournament, held in Moscow, Russia, from 11 to 30 March 2016. The winner, Sergey Karjakin, earned the right to challenge the defending world champion, Magnus Carlsen of No ...

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 ...

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 ...

Magnus Carlsen Sven Magnus Øen Carlsen (born 30 November 1990) is a Norwegian chess grandmaster who is the reigning five-time World Chess Champion. He is also a three-time World Rapid Chess Champion and five-time World Blitz Chess Champion. Carlsen has h ...

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 & ...

Chess World Cup 2021 The Chess World Cup 2021 was a 206-player single-elimination chess tournament that took place in Sochi, Russia, beginning 12 July and ending 6 August 2021. It was the 9th edition of the Chess World Cup. The winner of this tournament was the Polis ...

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 ...

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. ...

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,

Prodigy

Karjakin learned to play chess when he was five years old. He joined the A.V. Momot Club in Kramatorsk, Ukraine, and was coached by Vladislav Borovikov, becoming an

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 ...

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

Ruslan Ponomariov Ruslan Olehovych Ponomariov ( uk, Русла́н Оле́гович Пономарьо́в; born 11 October 1983) is a Ukrainian chess grandmaster. He was FIDE World Chess Champion from 2002 to 2004. He won the Ukrainian Chess Championship in ...

during the final of the FIDE World Championship, though Karjakin had only just turned 12 at the time. By scoring grandmaster norms at the

Aeroflot Open The Aeroflot Open is an annual open chess tournament played in Moscow and sponsored by the airline Aeroflot. It was established in 2002 and quickly grew to be the strongest open tournament; in 2013 it was converted to a rapid and blitz event, whil ...

in Moscow,

Alushta Alushta ( uk, Алушта; crh, Aluşta; ) is a city of regional significance on the southern coast of the Crimean peninsula which is within the Republic of Crimea, an internationally recognized ''de jure'' part of Ukraine, but since 2014 a ''de ...

tournament in May 2002 and

Sudak Sudak (Ukrainian & Russian: Судак; crh, Sudaq; gr, Σουγδαία; sometimes spelled Sudac or Sudagh) is a town, multiple former Eastern Orthodox bishopric and double Latin Catholic titular see. It is of regional significance in Crimea, ...

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

Abhimanyu Mishra Abhimanyu Mishra (born February 5, 2009) is an 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 25 days, beating Sergey ...

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 Brissago () is a municipality in the district of Locarno in the canton of Ticino in Switzerland. Brissago lies on the western shore of Lake Maggiore and includes the Brissago Islands. History An ax and ceramic pieces from the Neolithic era as we ...

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. Soon after, Karjakin took part in the

Dortmund Sparkassen Chess Meeting The Dortmund Sparkassen Chess Meeting is an elite chess tournament held every summer in Dortmund, Germany. Dortmund is an invite-only event, with the exception that one slot at Dortmund is awarded to the winner of the annual Aeroflot Open in Moscow ...

. 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 in

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. At the 36th Chess Olympiad in

Calvià Calvià () is a municipality on the island of Majorca, part of the Spanish autonomous community of the Balearic Islands. It is located in the southwestern part of the island of Majorca, between the Serra de Tramuntana and the Serra de Na Burguesa ...

, 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 Boris Gelfand ( he, בוריס אברמוביץ' גלפנד; be, Барыс Абрамавіч Гельфанд, Barys Abramavich Hel'fand; russian: Борис Абрамович Гельфанд, Boris Abramovich Gel'fand; born 24 June 1968) ...

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 The Tata Steel Chess Tournament is an annual chess tournament held in January in Wijk aan Zee, the Netherlands. It was called the Hoogovens Tournament from its creation in 1938 until the sponsor Koninklijke Hoogovens merged with British Steel ...

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 Kirishi (russian: Ки́риши, ) is a town and the administrative center of Kirishsky District in Leningrad Oblast, Russia, located on the right bank of the Volkhov River, southeast of St. Petersburg. Population: It was previously kno ...

, Russia in May. In July, he tied for third place in the European Individual Championship.

Career

2006

In 2006, Karjakin played for the first time in the

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 ...

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 Sven Magnus Øen Carlsen (born 30 November 1990) is a Norwegian chess grandmaster who is the reigning five-time World Chess Champion. He is also a three-time World Rapid Chess Champion and five-time World Blitz Chess Champion. Carlsen has h ...

, 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 Alexander Genrikhovich Beliavsky (, ua, Олександр Генріхович Бєлявський, sl, Aleksander Henrikovič Beljavski; also romanized ''Belyavsky''; born December 17, 1953) is a Soviet, Ukrainian and Slovenian chess pl ...

, Artur Yusupov,

John Nunn John Denis Martin Nunn (born 25 April 1955) is an English chess grandmaster, a three-time world champion in chess problem solving, a chess writer and publisher, and a mathematician. He is one of England's strongest chess players and was forme ...

, and

Ulf Andersson Ulf Andersson (born 27 June 1951) is a leading Swedish chess player. FIDE awarded him the International Master title in 1970 and the Grandmaster title in 1972. Career At his peak, Andersson reached number four on the FIDE rating list. Tourname ...

), 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. In October 2007, Karjakin finished second behind Bu Xiangzhi in the

Blindfold Chess Blindfold chess, also known as ''sans voir'', is a form of chess play wherein the players do not see the positions of the pieces and do not touch them. This forces players to maintain a mental model of the positions of the pieces. Moves are commu ...

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 The Chess World Cup 2007 served as a qualification tournament for the World Chess Championship 2010. It was held as a 128-player single-elimination tournament, between 24 November and 16 December 2007, in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia. In an event att ...

, 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, wit ...

, Karjakin reached the semi-finals, in which he lost to

Alexei Shirov Alexei Shirov (, lv, Aleksejs Širovs; born 4 July 1972) is a Latvian and Spanish chess player. Shirov was ranked number two in the world in 1994. He won a match against Vladimir Kramnik in 1998 to qualify to play as challenger for the classic ...

. 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 Fast chess, also known as Speed chess, is a type of chess in which each player is given less time to consider their moves than normal tournament time controls allow. Fast chess is subdivided, by decreasing time controls, into rapid chess, blitz ...

match against GM

Nigel Short Nigel David Short (born 1 June 1965) is an English chess grandmaster, columnist, coach, and commentator, who is the vice-president of FIDE since October 2018. Short earned the Grandmaster title at the age of 19, and was ranked third in the ...

7½–2½. In February 2009, he won his first elite tournament in the A group of the

Corus chess tournament The Tata Steel Chess Tournament is an annual chess tournament held in January in Wijk aan Zee, the Netherlands. It was called the Hoogovens Tournament from its creation in 1938 until the sponsor Koninklijke Hoogovens merged with British Steel ...

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 ...

(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 Dmitry Olegovich Jakovenko (russian: Дмитрий Олегович Яковенко; born 28 June 1983) is a Russian chess player. He was awarded the title Grandmaster by FIDE in 2001. Jakovenko was European champion in 2012. He was a member ...

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 in

Mediaș Mediaș (; german: Mediasch, Transylvanian Saxon: ''Medwesch''/''Medveš'', hu, Medgyes) is the second largest town in Sibiu County, Transylvania, Romania. Geographic location Mediaș is located in the middle basin of Târnava Mare River, ...

,

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 Christopher Hikaru NakamuraTeimour 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 Grandmaste ...

,

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 ev ...

. 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

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

Ian Nepomniachtchi Ian Alexandrovich Nepomniachtchi ( rus, Ян Алекса́ндрович Непо́мнящий, r=Yan Aleksandrovich Nepomnyashchiy, p=ˈjan ɐlʲɪkˈsandrəvʲɪtɕ nʲɪˈpomnʲɪɕːɪj, a=Ru-Ian Alexandrovich Nepomnyashchij.ogg; born 14 J ...

in the category 22

Tal Memorial The Tal Memorial is an annual chess tournament played in Moscow from 2006 to 2018 with the exception of 2015, to honour the memory of the former World Champion Mikhail Tal (1936–1992). Many of the world's strongest players compete. In 2014 it w ...

in Moscow.

2012: World Rapid Champion

In July 2012, Karjakin won the

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 ...

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

Astana Astana, previously known as Akmolinsk, Tselinograd, Akmola, and most recently Nur-Sultan, is the capital city of Kazakhstan. The city lies on the banks of the Ishim (river), Ishim River in the north-central part of Kazakhstan, within the Akmo ...

,

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 Tashkent (, uz, Toshkent, Тошкент/, ) (from russian: Ташкент), or Toshkent (; ), also historically known as Chach is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Uzbekistan, largest city of Uzbekistan. It is the most populous ...

.

2013–2014

In May, he won the inaugural edition of

Norway Chess Norway Chess is an annual closed chess tournament, typically taking place in the May to June time period every year. The first edition took place in the Stavanger area, Norway, from 7 May to 18 May 2013. The 2013 tournament had ten participants, in ...

, 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 Norway Chess is an annual closed chess tournament, typically taking place in the May to June time period every year. The first edition took place in the Stavanger area, Norway, from 7 May to 18 May 2013. The 2013 tournament had ten participants, in ...

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 The Chess World Cup 2015 was a 128-player single-elimination tournament, single-elimination chess tournament held in Baku, Azerbaijan, from 10 September to 5 October 2015. Sergey Karjakin won the competition on tie-breaks after a four-game final ...

after going down 0–2 to former World Cup Champion

Peter Svidler Pyotr Veniaminovich Svidler (russian: Пётр Вениами́нович Сви́длер; born 17 June 1976), commonly known as Peter Svidler, is a Russian chess grandmaster and an eight-time Russian Chess Champion who now frequently commenta ...

, 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, where Karjakin sequentially knocked out four of the five members in the Chinese team:

Wei Yi Wei Yi (born 2 June 1999) is a Chinese chess Grandmaster (chess), grandmaster. Wei became a grandmaster at the age of 13 years, 8 months and 23 days, the 9th Chess prodigy#List of youngest grandmasters, youngest in history. He is the youngest ...

,

Ding Liren Ding Liren (; born 24 October 1992) is a Chinese chess grandmaster. He is the highest rated Chinese chess player in history and is also a three-time Chinese Chess Champion. He was the winner of the 2019 Grand Chess Tour, beating Maxime Vachi ...

,

Ni Hua Ni Hua (born May 31, 1983 in Shanghai) is a Chinese chess grandmaster and the national team captain. He is three-time national champion. In 2003, he became China's 15th Grandmaster at the age of 19. In April 2008, Ni Hua and Bu Xiangzh ...

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, 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 The World Chess Championship 2016 was a chess match between the reigning world champion Magnus Carlsen and the challenger Sergey Karjakin to determine the World Chess Championship, World Chess Champion. Carlsen had been world champion since World ...

took place 11–30 November 2016 in New York 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

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 & ...

, 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, 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 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 Daniil Dmitrievich Dubov (russian: Даниил Дмитриевич Дубов; born 18 April 1996) is a Russian chess grandmaster. He achieved his final norm for the Grandmaster title at the age of 14 years, 11 months, 14 days in 2011. He i ...

,

Hikaru Nakamura Christopher Hikaru NakamuraAlexander Grischuk Alexander Igorevich Grischuk (born October 31, 1983) is a Russian chess grandmaster. Grischuk was the Russian champion in 2009. He is also a three-time world blitz chess champion (in 2006, 2012 and 2015). He has competed in five Candidates ...

(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 Conference Centre, West Kensington, London. The flagship event is a strong invitational tournament between some of the world's top grandmasters. A number of subsidiary events cov ...

, 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, Magnu ...

. 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 Gashimov Memorial is a chess supertournament played in Azerbaijan in memory of Vugar Gashimov (1986–2014). Winners 2014 The Gashimov Memorial 2014 took place in the Haydar Aliev Centre in Shamkir City from 16 April to 30 April 2014, consisting o ...

, 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 The Russian Chess Championship has taken various forms. Winners by year (men) Imperial Russia In 1874, Emanuel Schiffers defeated Andrey Chardin in a match held in St. Petersburg with five wins and four losses. Schiffers was considered the first ...

. 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 The Chess World Cup 2021 was a 206-player single-elimination chess tournament that took place in Sochi, Russia, beginning 12 July and ending 6 August 2021. It was the 9th edition of the Chess World Cup. The winner of this tournament was the Polis ...

. 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 bron ...

in the quarterfinals and eliminated Russian GM

Vladimir Fedoseev Vladimir Vasilyevich Fedoseev (russian: Влади́мир Васи́льевич Федосе́ев; born 16 February 1995) is a Russian chess grandmaster. He competed in the FIDE World Cup in 2015, 2017, and 2021. Career Fedoseev tied fo ...

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 Jan-Krzysztof Duda (; born 26 April 1998) is a Polish chess grandmaster. A prodigy, he achieved the grandmaster title in 2013 at the age of 15 years and 21 days. he is ranked No. 1 in Poland and No. 18 in the world. His personal best rating ...

in the finals to finish second. Karjakin criticised

Daniil Dubov Daniil Dmitrievich Dubov (russian: Даниил Дмитриевич Дубов; born 18 April 1996) is a Russian chess grandmaster. He achieved his final norm for the Grandmaster title at the age of 14 years, 11 months, 14 days in 2011. He i ...

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 Ian Alexandrovich Nepomniachtchi ( rus, Ян Алекса́ндрович Непо́мнящий, r=Yan Aleksandrovich Nepomnyashchiy, p=ˈjan ɐlʲɪkˈsandrəvʲɪtɕ nʲɪˈpomnʲɪɕːɪj, a=Ru-Ian Alexandrovich Nepomnyashchij.ogg; born 14 J ...

. 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 onlin ...

, 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 The World Chess Championship 2016 was a chess match between the reigning world champion Magnus Carlsen and the challenger Sergey Karjakin to determine the World Chess Championship, World Chess Champion. Carlsen had been world champion since World ...

, 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 Veselin Aleksandrov Topalov (pronounced ; bg, Весели́н Александров Топа́лов; born 15 March 1975) is a Bulgarian chess International Grandmaster, grandmaster and former FIDE World Chess Championship, World Chess Champ ...

at the Gashimov Memorial 2017.

Personal life

He is an Eastern Orthodox Christian. 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, 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 Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) is a United States government funded organization that broadcasts and reports news, information, and analysis to countries in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Caucasus, and the Middle East where it says tha ...

. (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, 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 (from

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 ...

).

Suspension from chess events (2022)

In late February, after comments in support 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 ...

were posted online by Karjakin and fellow Russian grandmaster

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 onlin ...

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

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, May 6, 2022 The decision meant that Karjakin was not able to participate in 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, On 2 June,

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 ...

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

* * * * *
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