Sergey Karjakin

For people with a similar name, seeSergey Karyakin.

In this name that followsEastern Slavic naming customs,thepatronymicisAlexandrovichand thefamily nameisKarjakin.

Sergey Karjakin
Karjakin in 2018
Full name	Sergey Alexandrovich Karjakin
Country	Ukraine (until 2009) Russia (since 2009)
Born	(1990-01-12)12 January 1990 Simferopol,Crimean Oblast,Ukrainian SSR,Soviet Union
Title	Grandmaster(2003)
FIDErating	2750(September 2024)
Peak rating	2788 (July 2011)
Peak ranking	No. 4 (July 2011)

Sergey Alexandrovich Karjakin(born 12 January 1990) is a Russian chessgrandmaster.Achess prodigy,he previously held the record for the world's youngest ever grandmaster, having qualified for the title at the age of 12 years and 7 months.

Karjakin won theEuropean U10 Chess Championshipin 1999 and was theWorld U12 Chess Championin 2001. He earned theInternational Mastertitle at age 11 and was awarded his grandmaster title in 2003. He represented Ukraine at theChess Olympiadin2004,winning team and individual gold. He competed in two more Chess Olympiads for Ukraine and won theCorus chess tournamentin 2009, beforetransferringto Russia. He has since represented Russia five times in the Chess Olympiad, winning individual gold in2010.He also won team gold with Russia at theWorld Team Chess Championshipin 2013and 2019.

Karjakin won the 2012World Rapid Chess Championshipand theNorway Chesstournament in 2013 and 2014. He competed at theCandidates Tournament 2014,placing second. He won theChess World Cup 2015,thus qualifying for theCandidates Tournament 2016.He won the tournament and earned the right to challenge for theWorld Chess Championship.In November 2016, he lost thechampionship matchtoMagnus Carlsenin the rapid tiebreaks after drawing 6–6 in the classical games. He won the 2016World Blitz Chess Championship.He participated in the Candidates tournament again in2018,placing third, and qualified for the2022 Candidatesby finishing second in theChess World Cup 2021.

Karjakin's public approval of theRussian invasion of Ukraineprompted theGrand Chess Tourto ban him for future events. He was also banned from playing FIDE-rated events for six months, including theCandidates Tournament 2022.Following the expiration of his ban, Karjakin has refused to participate in events where he is barred from playing under the Russian flag;this, in conjunction with FIDE's ban on Belarusian and Russian flags, meant that Karjakin has been inactive, dropping out of FIDE's rating lists in June 2024.

Prodigy

Karjakin learned to play chess when he was five years old.He joined the A.V. Momot Club inKramatorsk, Ukraine,and was coached by Vladislav Borovikov,becoming anInternational Masterat age 11 years and 11 months. He won theU10 European championshipin 1999 and theU12 world championshipin 2001. Also in 2001, Karjakin tied for first place in the U14 European championship withBorki PredojevićandRauf Mamedov,taking the silver medal on tiebreak.In January 2002, he was the official second of fellow UkrainianRuslan Ponomariovduring the final of theFIDE World Championship,though Karjakin had only just turned 12 at the time.

By scoring grandmaster norms at theAeroflot Openin Moscow,Alushtatournament in May 2002 andSudakin August 2002, he surpassedBu Xiangzhito 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 playerAbhimanyu Mishraachieved 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 againstAlexandra Kosteniuk( "Dannemann Classico" ) inBrissagoby a score of 4–2and tied for second in theUkrainian championship.

He competed in the2004 FIDE World ChampionshipinTripoli,where he lost in the first round toMikhail Kobalia.Soon after, Karjakin took part in theDortmund Sparkassen Chess Meeting.Here he defeated the reigning world champion,Vladimir Kramnik,in ablitz game.In October, Karjakin was the only human to win against a computer in theMan vs Machine World Team ChampionshipinBilbao,Spain, where he was the youngest and lowest-rated player, beatingDeep Junior.At the36th Chess OlympiadinCalvià,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, behindBoris Gelfandat thePamplonatournament. In the following month, he won the Group B of theCorus Chess TournamentinWijk aan Zee,thus qualifying for the 2006 Group A.

Karjakin entered the world's top 100 in the April 2005FIDElist, at 64th with anElo ratingof 2635. He scored 8½/11 points (+7=3−1) to win the Young Stars of the World tournament held inKirishi,Russia in May.In July, he tied for third place in theEuropean Individual Championship.

Career

2006

Karjakin at theCorus Tournamentin 2006

In 2006, Karjakin played for the first time in theWijk aan ZeeCorus A tournament, scoring 7/13 points (4 wins, 6 draws, 3 losses).In the same year, he took part in the NH Chess Tournament inAmsterdam;it was a match between two teams, "Rising Stars" (made up of Karjakin,Magnus Carlsen,Wang Hao,Daniel Stellwagen,andJan Smeets) and "Experience" (Alexander Beliavsky,Artur Yusupov,John Nunn,andUlf Andersson), held with theScheveningen system.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 2008Amber chess tournament. In October 2007, Karjakin finished second behind Bu Xiangzhi in theblindfold chessWorld Cup inBilbao,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 theChess World Cup 2007,which served as a qualification tournament for theWorld Chess Championship 2010,Karjakin reached the semi-finals, in which he lost toAlexei 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 arapid chessmatch against GMNigel Short7½–2½.

In February 2009, he won his first elite tournament in the A group of theCorus chess tournamentinWijk aan Zee(category XIX), with a score of 8/13.

He won the ACP World Rapid Cup, which was conducted from 27 to 29 May 2010, defeatingDmitry Jakovenkoin the final by 4–3.

2011

In June 2011, Karjakin took second place in theBaznaKings TournamentinMediaș,Romania,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, thenHikaru Nakamura,Teimour Radjabov,Vassily Ivanchuk,andLiviu-Dieter Nisipeanu.The results affected the world rankings, as Carlsen reclaimed first place, and Karjakin passed Kramnik for fourth place.

In November, Karjakin shared third place withVassily IvanchukandIan Nepomniachtchiin the category 22Tal Memorialin Moscow.

2012: World Rapid Champion

Karjakin in 2012

In July 2012, Karjakin won theWorld Rapid Chess Championship,a full point ahead of world number one Magnus Carlsen inAstana,Kazakhstan.In the same month, he also tied for first atDortmundwithFabiano Caruanabut came in second after tiebreak.In November–December 2012, Karjakin shared first place withWang HaoandAlexander Morozevichwith 6½/9 in the FIDE Grand Prix event held inTashkent, Uzbekistan.

2013–2014

In May, he won the inaugural edition ofNorway 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 inKhanty-Mansiysk,Russia,behindViswanathan Anand.His second at the event was former FIDE World ChampionRustam Kasimdzhanov.

In June 2014, Karjakin won theNorway Chesstournament 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 theChess World Cup 2015after going down 0–2 to former World Cup ChampionPeter 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 theHeixiazi Island,where Karjakin sequentially knocked out four of the five members in the Chinese team:Wei Yi,Ding Liren,Ni HuaandYu Yangyi.In the second half of the event, which was held inHarbinin December, he also defeatedWang Yue,leading team Russia to victory.

2016: Candidates winner and World Blitz Champion

In March 2016, Karjakin won the2016 Candidates Tournamentin 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.

TheWorld Chess Championship 2016took place 11–30 November 2016 inNew YorkCity. The format consisted of a maximum of 12 games played under a long classical time control, ending with possible speed chess tiebreak games and anArmageddon gameto 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.This remains the last time Carlsen was defeated in a classical or rapid game in the finals of a World Chess Championship having gone unbeaten in the rapid tiebreaks with Karjakin and in his subsequent matches with Caruana in 2018 (both in the classical portion and in the rapid tiebreaks) and Nepomniachtchi in 2021.

Karjakin won the 2016World Blitz Chess Championship,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 withPeter Leko,while Karjakin won againstBaadur Jobava.Thus, they both finished the tournament with 16½/21. The tie-break (theEloaverage 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 NakamuraandAlexander Grischuk(three-time world blitz champion), were a full two points behind.

2017–2018

Sergey Karjakin inMoscowin 2017

In December, he participated in theLondon Chess Classic,placing eighth with a score of 3½/9.

In January, Karjakin competed in theTata Steel Masters.He placed seventh, scoring 7½/13 (+2−0=11).

In March, he competed in theCandidates Tournament 2018.He finished third with 8/14 (+4−2=8), one point behind the winner Caruana.

In April, he participated in thefifth editionofShamkir Chess,finishing third with a score of 5/9 (+1−0=8).

From 28 May to 7 June, he competed in thesixth editionof Norway Chess, finishing last with 3/8 (+1−3=4).

2019–2020

In March 2019, Karjakin competed as part of the Russian team at the World Team Championship inAstana,Kazakhstan.He was defeated by the Kazakh grandmaster Rinat Dzhumabaev.Despite this, the Russian team took first place in the tournament.

From 31 March to 9 April, he competed inShamkir 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 73rdRussian 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 theChess World Cup 2021.In round five, Karjakin defeated French GMMaxime Vachier-Lagravein the rapid tiebreaker after drawing the classical games. He then knocked out US GMSam Shanklandin the quarterfinals and eliminated Russian GMVladimir Fedoseevin the semifinals to qualify for theCandidates Tournament 2022.Eventually, Karjakin lost to Polish GMJan-Krzysztof Dudain the finals to finish second.

Karjakin criticisedDaniil Dubovfor serving as a second for Magnus Carlsen in theWorld Chess Championship 2021againstIan Nepomniachtchi.This was also criticised bySergei Shipov,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.

From 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–present

In January 2022, he competed in theTata Steel Chess Tournament 2022,where he finished tied for fifth with a score of 7/13.Controversy arose among spectators after the tenth round when Karjakin and Carlsen drew by three-fold repetition after 16 moves in 20 minutes, with Karjakin's deciding to enter a drawn line of theBerlin Defence.After the game, Karjakin tweeted "#drawmagnus #saynoto2900".

Suspension

In February 2022, the Crimea-born Karjakin, who had transferred from the Ukrainian Chess Federation to the Russian Chess Federation in 2009, came out in vocal support of theRussian invasion of Ukraine.This led FIDE to refer him (as well as fellow GrandmasterSergei Shipov) to the Ethics and Disciplinary Commission.While the investigation was ongoing, several chess tournaments and platforms banned Karjakin: theGrand Chess Tourdid so in early March, 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",whileChessbanned him from participating in all prize tournaments that same month.

In March 2022, the FIDE Ethics and Disciplinary Commission banned him from playing any FIDE-rated events for six months. TheRussian Chess Federationfiled an appeal, which was denied.The decision meant that Karjakin was not able to participate in theCandidates Tournament 2022.In a post to hisTelegramchannel, Karjakin denounced FIDE for conflating sports with politics. He further declared that he considers himself a patriot first and a chess player second, and that he did not regret anything.His public approval of the invasion led to Russian President Vladimir Putin awarding him aMedal of the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland"in June 2022.

After the suspension ended in September 2022, Karjakin continued a self-imposed "ban" by refusing to participate in any tournament where he could not play under the Russian flag.Notably, Karjakin opted out of playing at the2023 Chess World Cupdespite his eligibility to play at the event due to rating, reiterating his disapproval for "the upcoming tournament [where] I can't represent my country, play under my (country's) flag, and if I successfully perform, I will not hear my country's national anthem."

Since January 2022, Karjakin has (as of April 2024) only played two classical FIDE-rated games, at the Russian Team Championship in May 2023.

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 theWorld 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 optionas 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 overVeselin Topalovat the Gashimov Memorial 2017.

Personal life

Karjakin is anethnic Russian.

He is anEastern 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 playerKateryna Dolzhykova.

On 25 July 2009, by thedecree of the President of RussiaDmitry Medvedev,Karjakin adopted Russian citizenship.Later that year hetransferred chess federationsfrom Ukraine to Russia.He has lived in Moscow since 2009.

In 2013 he graduated from theRussian State Social Universitywith a degree insocial pedagogy.

Karjakin (right) with Vladimir Putin in 2017

In January 2024, Karjakin was involved in a very serious motor vehicle accident, being the passenger of the car that flipped multiple times. He suffered rib fractures. However, his injuries were not life-threatening.Later that year, in February 2024, Karjakin visited the ruins of the Ukrainian townAvdiivka,which hadrecently been occupied by Russian forces.He took selfies there in military gear.

Political views

Karjakin is known for his strong support forVladimir Putin.

In 2022, he publicly endorsed theRussian invasion of Ukraine.

Sanctions

In 2022, he was sanctioned byUkrainefor his public endorsement and approval of theRussian invasion of Ukraine.

External links

• Sergey Karjakinrating card atFIDE
• Sergey Karjakinplayer profile and games atChessgames
• Sergey Karjakinchess games at 365Chess
• Sergey Karjakinplayer profile atChess
• Sergey KarjakinChess Olympiad record at OlimpBase.org
• Interview with game reviewArchived30 May 2014 at theWayback Machine