30 Noteworthy Facts About Sergey Karjakin You Should Know

Sergey Karjakin, one of the elite chess players, is famously known for his defensive skills, which earned him an informal nickname as Russia's "Minister of Defense." He is also known to be capable of aggressive plat, if the position demands it. He represented Ukraine at the Chess Olympiad in 2004, winning team and individual gold. Since 2009, he has represented Russia five times in the Chess Olympiad, winning individual gold in 2010. He also won team gold with Russia at the World Team Chess Championship in 2013 and 2019. He is also one among the select group of players, who are deemed capable of dethroning Magnus Carlsen as the best chess player in the world. Here are some really interesting facts about the chess player that will blow your mind:

"Sergey Karjakin (RUS)" by Federació d'Escacs Valls d'Andorra is licensed under CC BY 2.0

1.  At the Aeroflot Open in Moscow, Alushta tournament in May 2002 and Sudak in August 2002, he scored grandmaster norms, surpassing Bu Xiangzhi, becoming the world's youngest grandmaster.
2.  Sergey achieved this feat at the age of 12 years 7 months, a record that lasted for 19 years until 2021, when American player Abhimanyu Mishra achieved at 12 years, 4 months and 25 days.
3.  In October 2004, Karjakin was the only human to win against a computer in the Man vs Machine World Team Championship in Bilbao, Spain, where he was the youngest and lowest rated player, beating Deep Junior.
4.  In the round five of the 2021 Chess World Cup, Karjakin defeated French GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in the rapid tiebreaker after drawing the classical games.
5.  He qualified for the Candidates Tournament 2022, by knocking out US GM Sam Shankland and eliminating Russian GM Vladimir Fedoseev in the quarterfinals and semifinals respectively.
6.  Sergey Alexandrovich Karjakin was born on January 12, 1990 to Alexander Karjakin and Tatyana Karjakina in Simferopol, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union.
7.  It was said that he was very much interested in playing chess at the very young age of 5, but his family members did not attach serious importance to this.
8.  Still, the whole family helped as much as they could, even when he played and lost, and was upset to tears.
9.  He joined the A.V. Momot Club in Kramatorsk, Ukraine and was coached by Vladislav Borovikov, becoming an International Master at age 11 years and 11 months.
10.  In the year 1999, he won the U10 European Championship, and two years later, he won the U12 world championship.

"Sergey Karjakin" by karpidis is licensed under CC BY 2.0

11.  In the year 2001, he tied for first place in the U14 European championship with Borki Predojević and Rauf Mamedov, taking the silver medal on tiebreak.
12.  In January 2002, he was the official second of fellow Ukrainian Ruslan Ponomariov during the final of the FIDE World Championship, though Karjakin had only just turned 12 at the time.
13.  He won a six-game match against Alexandra Kosteniuk ("Dannemann Classico") in Brissago by a score of 4–2, and tied for second in the Ukrainian championship, in the year 2003.
14.  Karjakin entered the world's top 100 in the April 2005 FIDE list, at 64th with an Elo rating 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.
15.  In October 2007, he finished second behind Bu Xiangzhi in the Blindfold Chess World Cup in Bilbao, scoring 17 points after five wins, two draws and three losses.
16.  Sergey passed the 2700 mark for the first time, in the January 2008 FIDE list, with a new rating of 2732 and a world rank of 13.
17.  He won his first elite tournament in the A group of the Corus chess tournament in Wijk aan Zee (category XIX), with a score of 8/13, in February 2009.
18.  By the decree of the President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev, he adopted Russian citizenship on July 25, 2009, following which he transferred chess federations from Ukraine to Russia.
19.  In July 2012, Karjakin won the World Rapid Chess Championship, a full point ahead of world number one Magnus Carlsen in Astana, Kazakhstan.
20.  He won the inaugural edition of Norway Chess, scoring 6½/9 (+6−2=1), half a point ahead of Carlsen, in May 2013.

"File:SKarjakin12.jpg" by Stefan64 is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0

21.  He won the 2016 Candidates Tournament in Moscow and qualified to play a match against Magnus Carlsen for the title of World Chess Champion in March.
22.  In the last round of the tournament, he defeated Fabiano Caruana to finish with 8½ out of 14, one point ahead of Caruana and Viswanathan Anand.
23.  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.
24.  He won the 2016 World Blitz Chess Championship, as in the tie-break used to decide the winner, his opponents had the better average, in comparison to Carlsen’s opponents.
25.  In December 2017, he participated in the London Chess Classic, placing eighth with a score of 3½/9. He also placed seventh, scoring 7½/13 (+2−0=11) in the Tata Steel Masters.
26.  From March 31, 2019, to April 9, 2019, he competed in Shamkir Chess 2019. He placed in a tie for second, with five points out of nine.
27.  He competed in the 73rd Russian Chess Championship in December 2020, finishing with a score of 7/11, earning second place, behind eventual winner Ian Nepomniachtchi.
28.  He first married Ukrainian chess player Kateryna Dolzhykova, on July 24, 2009. But the relationship ended in divorce.
29.  He married Galiya Kamalova, secretary of the Moscow chess federation, in May 2014. They have two sons together, born in 2015 and 2017.
30.  He participated in the 2021 FIDE World Rapid Championship, where he ended up in eleventh place with 9/13 points after tiebreaks, December 2021.
31.  Sergey Karjakin Net Worth: $5 Million