Karjakin Sergey (12.01.1990)

Ukrainian-born Russian Grandmaster who became the youngest Grandmaster in the history of chess (12 years and 7 months). World Rapid Champion in 2012 and World Blitz Champion in 2016. European U10 Champion in 1999, World U12 Champion in 2001. He was the Vice European Champion U14 in 2001, Ukrainian U14 Champion in 2001 and the Vice Champion of Ukraine in 2003. He lost the championship match to Magnus Carlsen in November 2016 in rapid-play tiebreak.

Best results: winner or shared first at Alushta GM 2001 and 2002; St Petersburg 2005; Top scorer in NH Chess Amsterdam 2007, Corus Wijk aan Zee A 2009; ACP World Rapid Cup 2010; Bazna King Tournament 2011; Tashkent FIDE GP 2012; Norway Chess Tournament 2014; World Cup 2015 and 2016 Candidates Tournament.
In matches, he defeated Alexandra Kostaniuk 4:2 in 2003 and Nigel Short 7½:2½ in 2008.

A participant in the 2004 World Championship and twice semi-finalists in the 2007 and 2009 World Cup. A participant in the Olympiads between 2002 and 2008 for Ukraine, he won the gold medal at the 2004 Olympiad and the individual gold medal for best performance on board six.
In 2010, playing for the first time for Russia, he took the silver and individual gold for best performance on board 4 and a team gold medal in 2013 at the World Team Championship.

Since 2008, he was coached by Yury Dokhoyan then by Vladimir Potkin. Karjakin is married to Women Grandmaster Galiya Kamalova.

Peak rating: 2788 in 2011, he was then the 4th world ranked player.