Chess Sergei Karyakin biography. Sergey Karyakin, biography, news, photos

Sergey Karyakin went down in the history of world sports as the youngest grandmaster. The event was immediately included in the Guinness Book of Records. The victory gave the then teenager an incentive to continue playing chess and make this intellectual game his life’s calling.

Childhood and youth

Sergey Karyakin is originally from Ukraine. Born January 12, 1990. My mother is a computer science teacher, my father took on any job. In his hometown of Simferopol, a five-year-old boy took his first steps at the chessboard.

One day he heard on TV an incomprehensible phrase “even a pawn can become a queen.” The mother explained to the baby the meaning of the words, and the father showed the rules board game. Since then, the future champion could not be taken away from the battles on the black and white field.

The Karyakin family always had pets. The shepherd dog Max did not share his owner’s hobby. But the cat Matilda or Motya, as little Seryozha called her, supported his perseverance and determination. The animal sat on his lap for several hours until the boy finished analyzing all the sketches planned for that day.

His dad played with Sergei, who subsequently almost always lost to his son. More often than not, the child would retire into solitude—he himself would become his rival. It’s a paradox, but it was at the end of any game that a young chess player could cry because of a loss. It turns out that the boy was upset that he could not complete the combination with dignity, and the other “he” missed the piece.

Sergey Karyakin made his serious knight move in the sporting ascent to Olympus back in primary school. He is the winner of Ukraine and Europe among children. The boy immediately accepted the invitation to continue improving his level of skill at the chess club named after A.V. Momot, which was located in Kramatorsk. The institution was famous for its talented students. Serezha’s father also began working as a coach at the institution.

The boy himself, within two years, made a dizzying career in chess world– at the age of 12 he became a grandmaster. For this title, his name was included in the Guinness Book of Records. As a teenager, he also became a coach, and in 2005 received the title of Honored Master of Sports of Ukraine. Sergei Karyakin’s contribution was awarded the Order of Merit. He received the state award in 2004.

The family encouraged their son's success. Grandma tried especially hard. The famous athlete still remembers her signature cake in the shape of a chessboard and pieces. The chocolate-glazed culinary creation was a kind of prize for his beloved grandson.

Sports career

At the age of 19, Sergei Alexandrovich decides to move to live in Russia. The reason is the lack of opportunities for further development. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev grants his request to obtain citizenship. After receiving a passport, the professional becomes part of the country's chess team.

In 2011, Karjakin became the grandmaster of Russia, and a year later he won the rapid chess championship in Astana.

In 2013, and this is four years after the move, Russian Sergei Karyakin receives higher education at the department of the Russian State Social University. The graduate's specialty is social pedagogy.

In 2014 he was awarded the title of Honored Master of Sports of Russia, and 2015 brought Karyakin victory at the World Cup. In Baku, his opponent on the black and white field was the Russian Peter Svidler. Checkmate with the strongest athlete became another step to the top of Olympus. The grandmaster felt that the fulfillment of his cherished dream - to become a world champion - was closer than ever.

A year later, Karjakin wins the tournament and becomes a contender for the chess crown peace. In November 2016, a meeting took place between the Norwegian Magnus Carlsen and the Russian Sergey Karjakin. The whole country watched how 12 games took place between the strongest chess players on the planet. The world champion from Norway retained the championship in the tiebreaker.

In December of the same year, Karjakin achieved his goal - he became the world blitz champion in Doha (Qatar). The Russian athlete played 21 games and scored a total of 16.5 points. He had high hopes for the World Cup, which took place in September 2017 in Tbilisi.

At a simultaneous game in London, the Russian played with 72 opponents at once. The fighting lasted for six hours. Sergey Karyakin, moving around the hall, walked more than 10 kilometers!

A famous grandmaster becomes the best in international tournaments:

in 2001 and 2002 - in the city of Alushta;
in 2005 and 2009 - in Wijk aan Zee.

In 2016, he accepted the invitation and joined the club of world champions Mikhail Chigorin.

Expanding the boundaries of sport

Playing with a disabled person

Despite his high status, Sergey Karyakin easily communicates with ordinary people. Via the Internet via Skype, he played 3 games with the disabled Nikolai Grudinkin from Pervouralsk. The duel on the chess field was unusual. The young man has cerebral palsy, so he could only play with his tongue.

In the online game, the world champion won twice, and the third time he offered a draw, which pleased the person with disabilities.

The agent of the famous chess player noted that Karjakin expressed a desire to support the aspiring athlete. After the end of the game he even called him “the strongest opponent.” The professional advised Nikolai to continue training, but not on his own, but with a coach, and suggested that they meet again a year later on the chess field during a rematch.

Participation in the “Best of All” program

An unusual duel also took place during Maxim Galkin’s television program “Best of All.” Rival best chess player country became a three-year-old charming boy Misha Osipov. The presenter suggested playing on an unusual board. The child played with black pieces that were huge - almost as tall as him.

The kid had difficulty moving the large pieces, but brilliantly played the Sicilian Defense. Sergey Karjakin accepted the challenge, but at the end of the game he offered a draw. Mikhail Osipov's joy knew no bounds!

Simultaneous game session with sports school students

The famous athlete is accustomed to fighting with dozens of opponents at the same time, but this time they were children who were determined - they wanted to declare checkmate to Karjakin. They nicknamed him the “chess king,” although some of the rated teenagers were in the first league.

Sergey Karyakin spent several seconds at each table. The most “dangerous” opponent was Artem Ivanov. The ten-year-old boy meticulously wrote down all the champion's moves in a notebook.

Due to lack of time, Sergei Alexandrovich made only 11 moves. Chess master Evgeniy Dragomaretsky completed the games he started with the guys.

Cooperation

Leading firms expressed a desire to cooperate with the eminent grandmaster.

The Alpari company provides sponsorship to the athlete.
Kaspersky Lab is the official partner of the world champion. In an interview with the press, Karyakin confirmed the patronage of a company working in the field of IT device security: “Now Kaspersky protects my computer.”

Social work

The professional not only joined the list of key figures in the world of chess, but also joined the VI composition of the country's Public Chamber. The athlete accepted the offer of Russian President Vladimir Putin. In 2017, he actively worked in the EP commission on physical culture and popularization healthy image life. There are plans to create a fund for young athletes.

The grandmaster sets himself the task of opening his own chess school in his homeland in Simferopol. During his stay in Crimea and playing with young chess players, the Honored Master of Sports of Russia and Ukraine had a great desire to develop mind sport, in which he will take an active part as a teacher.

Upon completion of the reconstruction of the building of the children's sports school for checkers and chess, it will be handed over to the Ministry of Sports of the Republic of Crimea. After all the paperwork is completed, a new status of an additional education institution is possible.

During a trip around the peninsula, Sergei Karyakin shared his opinion about the reunification of Crimea with Russia. He supported the decision of the residents, which they expressed during the referendum in 2014.

Personal life of a chess player

Sergei Karyakin was married twice. He registered his first marriage in 2009 with a colleague in the chess world, Ekaterina Dolzhikova. The couple's family life did not work out.

Second time chess king tied the knot in 2014. The chosen one Galina Kamalova worked in the Moscow Chess Federation. Sergei noticed a pretty secretary and invited her on a date.

After a year of relationship, Karyakin is the father of a son, Alexei. After some time, wife Galina again gave her husband a boy. On his Twitter account, he described his emotions about the birth of the baby: “I didn’t have time to be discharged again, it’s good that I managed to meet you! The youngest son was born on July 27th! Thank you super mom."

A happy family lives in the Odintsovo district of the Moscow region. There they have a three-story house with a large plot on which fruit trees grow: apple trees, pears.

Hearth keeper Galina is accustomed to her husband’s frequent departures for training camps and performances. She herself is not an amateur in the black and white field. Before her marriage, she studied at the chess department and knows the secrets of her husband’s favorite game.

Sergey Karyakin treats the title of athlete with reverence. In addition to intellectual efforts, he swims in the pool, rides a bike, plays tennis and bowling. The daily physical training program necessarily includes jogging and walking on your hands. He can even be seen on the football field and among the basketball players. A personal physiotherapist closely monitors the patient's health and physical fitness.

Sergey Karyakin is the youngest grandmaster in the world history of chess, whose name is included in the Guinness Book of Records. He is an Honored Master of Sports of Ukraine and Russia, world champion, Olympic champion and winner of the 2015 World Chess Cup.

Childhood and adolescence

Future genius chess player born in the capital of Crimea - the city of Simferopol. Serezha’s mother was a programmer, and her father was a businessman. The whole family enthusiastically played chess, a love for which was passed on from grandmother Tamara Vladimirovna, a school mathematics teacher, who at one time taught Serezha’s father to play.


At the age of five, Karyakin Jr. also “fell ill” with chess, having heard on TV the incomprehensible and therefore attractive phrase “A pawn becomes a queen.” The curious boy became interested in the meaning of these words, and his father explained to him the rules of the game of chess. Soon this activity completely absorbed little Seryozha, every evening he asked his father to play with him. And when he found out that there was a chess studio in the local Palace of Pioneers, he categorically declared that he would not live another day without chess.


That year junior group they weren’t recruiting, so Seryozha was offered to demonstrate his abilities in a trial game with older guys. After the first game, the coach realized that he had an incredibly gifted child in front of him and, without hesitation, enrolled Serezha in the group. From that moment on, chess took the main place in the boy’s life, relegating English, computers, swimming and tennis to the background.

Sergey Karyakin and chess

At the age of seven, the child prodigy fulfilled the norm for the first category in chess, falling slightly short of becoming a candidate master. In elementary school, he became a repeated winner of Ukrainian and European children's chess tournaments.


In the fourth grade, Sergei was transferred to home schooling, as he devoted 6-8 hours a day to chess.

Sergey Karyakin in “Evening Urgant”

Soon he was invited to Kramatorsk, to one of the strongest chess clubs in the country, where at the age of 12, under the guidance of experienced coaches, he became the youngest grandmaster in the history of chess. Under this title in 2003, he was included in the Guinness Book. At the same time, Sergei for some time became a coach and second of the famous Ukrainian chess player Ruslan Ponomarev.


After the death of the director of the Kramatorsk club, Mikhail Nikitich Ponomarev, Sergei and his parents returned to Crimea, but to a young chess player it was already crowded within the borders of Ukraine. In 2009, he made a request to Dmitry Medvedev to grant him Russian citizenship. The request was granted, after which Sergei became a member of the Russian chess team and took second place at the 2010 Chess Olympiad.


In 2013, the young man graduated from the Russian State University of Social Sciences with a degree in Social Pedagogy.

Personal life of Sergei Karyakin

Despite his passion for chess bordering on fanaticism, Sergei also found time for romantic relationships with girls. Moreover, the grandmaster is married for the second time.

He met his first wife, chess player Ekaterina Dolzhikova, in 2007, during a tournament in Dresden. The lovers got married in July 2009, but after moving to Moscow, the marriage began to crack. The reason was Galia Kamalova, secretary of the capital's chess federation, who was instructed to take patronage over Sergei. The girl was three years older than her lover.


In May 2014, Karyakin and Kamalova got married, and a year and a half later their son Alexey was born. In one of the interviews, Galia said that Sergei is a cheerful and caring father and loves to tinker with the baby.

Sergey Karyakin now

In November 2016, Karjakin participated in the World Chess Championship. His main rival was the Norwegian Magnus Carlsen. The chess masters match consisted of 12 games; At the end of the game the score was equal – 6:6. To get out of the situation, the players were offered a tiebreaker, as a result of which Carlsen won with a score of 3:1.

There is only a day left until the new chess king is determined. Carlsen and Karjakin maintained the intrigue. The world champion and the Russian challenger each won one game in the match and tied 10 more, which means that the title will be played out in a tiebreaker.

Fans watch the athletes' every move and are willing to pay $1,200 for one day in the VIP area of ​​the Fulton Market complex, where the competition takes place (admission tickets for $75 were sold out before the start of the fight).

Millions more fans follow the battle for the chess crown on the Internet. Both Karjakin and Carlsen say that such attention is pleasant, although the most important support for each of them is their family and friends.

Muse of Anand

Indian chess player Viswanathan Anand is the FIDE world champion (2000-2002). The 15th world champion (2007-2013) considers his wife Aruna, with whom he has been together since 1996, to be his main fan.

It is interesting that before meeting Viswanathan, the girl knew nothing at all about chess. And now Anand calls his wife’s advice the key to his success. Aruna was also the manager of her famous husband and completely organized his life during the competitions. On April 9, 2011, the couple had a son, Achilles.

Ponomarev is married to a Spanish lover of Russian

In 2002, Ukrainian Ruslan Ponomarev became the youngest world champion. The 18-year-old chess player beat his compatriot Vasily Ivanchuk in a stubborn match. Now Ponomarev lives in Spain, it is here that he found his love. Ines Goni is four years younger than Ruslan. They first met when a chess tournament was held in Vitoria, where the girl was studying Russian at the University of the Basque Country.

Ines was sent to practice, she practically did not leave Ruslan for several days, and was his translator from Spanish. The guys immediately liked each other, began to communicate, and then dated. The wedding took place in 2012 in one of the churches in Bilbao.

Kramnik's French love

The 14th world chess champion, Russian Vladimir Kramnik, married Frenchwoman Marie-Laure Germont in 2007. A year later, their daughter Daria was born, and in 2013 their son Vadim.

Marie-Laure is two years younger than Vladimir. Journalist, worked for the Le Figaro newspaper. In 2005, she did an interview with a chess star, and it was then that Vladimir noticed the girl. Over time, sympathy grew into a serious romance.

Galia - Karyakin's wife

Karyakin’s second marriage to Galia Kamalova. The couple met when Sergei moved from Ukraine to Moscow. The grandmaster was accepted into the RGSU (Russian State Social University), and Galia worked there as an assistant to the rector. And she was assigned to the athlete to help with paperwork for the future Russian contender.

Galia is three years older than Sergei. The young people got married on May 17, 2014, and on October 19, 2015, their son Alexey was born. By the way, a month before the championship, Galia flew to New York, chose a hotel for her husband, looked at the site where the match was taking place, and then, leaving her baby at home, rushed after her husband to the training camp in Miami.

BY THE WAY

Carlsen is an eligible bachelor

On tiebreak day, November 30, reigning world champion Magnus Carlsen will turn 26 years old and is one of the world's most eligible bachelors. The guy combines his career as an athlete with modeling and is the face of several brands. Magnus is a frequent guest on various television shows.

He is also a football fan, and his status as a sports superstar has even allowed him to take the symbolic first kick twice in his beloved Real Madrid matches. But for all his popularity, Carlsen is still alone. The chess player admits that he simply doesn’t have time for girls.

LIKBEZ "KP"

They can last until Armageddon

Karjakin and Carlsen seemed to deliberately tighten the intrigue and make their fans nervous. In the 12th game, which could have been decisive, the chess players spent just over half an hour at the board and shook hands, making exactly 30 moves, since the rules of the match prohibited concluding peace agreements before this point.

Now it's a tiebreaker. First, Carlsen and Karjakin will play four games with a quick time control - 25 minutes each. If the score remains tied, five series of two blitz games will be played, with the match ending as soon as one of the opponents gains an advantage after the next two games.

If after these five series the match remains equal, the turn of “Armageddon” will come - the decisive game, in which the chess player with the white pieces will get only five minutes, and the chess player playing with the black pieces will get four, but he will only need to play a draw to win the title.

Sergey Aleksandrovich Karyakin is a Russian and Ukrainian chess player, whose name is included in the Guinness Book of Records as the youngest grandmaster in the history of chess. He achieved this title when he was not yet 13 years old. In addition, the chess player holds the titles of Honored Master of Sports of Russia and Ukraine and is the world champion in rapid chess, Olympic champion and winner of the 2015 World Cup.

Simferopol, where he was born on January 12, 1990, is noted as his hometown in the biography of Sergei Karyakin. For the first time in chessboard the boy sat down at the age of five after hearing the slogan “Even a pawn can become a queen” on TV. His parents explained the rules of the game to him, and later Sergei showed incredible persistence and played with himself for many hours.

The first successes were not long in coming: while still in elementary school, Sergei became the winner of Ukraine and Europe among children. The boy is invited to one of the strongest chess clubs in the country, in Kramatorsk. Karyakin studied there for two years and, under the guidance of experienced masters, achieved record results.

Sergei trained daily, studying from 6 to 8 hours a day. Such perseverance results in a phenomenal achievement: already at the age of 12, chess player Sergei Karyakin receives the title of grandmaster, for which his name is included in the Guinness Book of Records as the youngest holder of this title in history. By the way, Sergei soon added to this the title of the youngest trainer, as he began to train other people. But such an achievement was no longer recorded as a record.


At the age of 19, Karjakin decides that in Crimea he has no opportunity for further growth as a professional. He is applying for citizenship Russian Federation and by decree of the President of Russia becomes a Russian. In 2013, the young man received a graduate diploma from the Department of Social Pedagogy of the Russian State Social University.

Chess

Since childhood, chess player Sergei Karjakin has had incredible success. While still young, he became a champion in Ukrainian and European competitions, and at the age of 14, as a member of the Ukrainian national team, he earned the title of champion of the Chess Olympiad. Since 2009, Sergey Karyakin has been playing games as a member of the Russian national team, where he was included immediately after receiving citizenship of the Russian Federation. He was a silver medalist at the Chess Olympiad and won the national club championship and the European championship as a member of the Tomsk-400 and Malachite teams.


In 2015, Karjakin beat Russian Peter Svidler in a dramatic final at the World Cup in Baku, and since then the grandmaster’s main dream has been to become the world champion. On the way to this peak, on March 28, 2016, Sergei became the winner among the contenders to challenge the current world champion. The Norwegian and Sergey Karjakin met in November of the same year and in 12 games decided who the strongest chess player on the planet was in 2016. As a result, after a long and equal fight, Carlsen managed to retain the title of world champion.

The Young Stars Match became a landmark event in the revival of international interest in chess. After losing to the computer in 1997, there was a downward trend in interest in this sport. But the Internet broadcast of the Carlsen-Karjakin tournament broke records in terms of the number of views. The competition attracted the attention of fans due to the intensity of the game and the lowest total age of the competitors in the entire history of chess championships.


In 2016, Sergey Karyakin received an invitation to become a member of the symbolic club of Mikhail Chigorin. The organization was created with the goal of preserving the names of all chess players who defeated the current champion in at least one game. Sergey Karjakin is number 104 on this list, which dates back to 1889. In total, 108 chess players from all countries are registered in the club.

In the same year, Sergey Karjakin at the World Rapid and Blitz Championship managed to beat his opponent in the second category and become the winner. Magnus Carlsen again became his opponent in the tournament.


Interesting fact eyewitnesses recorded a simultaneous game held by a Russian in London. Sergei played simultaneously against 72 opponents for six hours and during this period managed to walk over 10 kilometers around the hall.

The popularity of the chess player and his successes in the international arena attract interest in the grandmaster from international corporations and political figures. So in 2016, Kaspersky Lab became Sergey Karyakin’s partner in his matches. A year later, the chess player entered the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation of the VI convocation on the proposal.

Personal life

Sergei Karyakin's first wife was Ukrainian chess player Ekaterina Dolzhikova, who also achieved considerable results and is an international master. But for various reasons, the marriage of the young people later broke up.


Already in Russia, the chess player meets Galia Kamalova. They met for the first time when the young man had just entered the Russian State Social University. The girl, as a representative of the university, helped the chess player resolve issues with the move, but then this acquaintance did not continue.

A whirlwind romance that changed the personal life of Sergei Karyakin began when the guy returned with a silver medal at the Olympic chess tournament. By the way, Galia Kamalova herself is not an amateur at her husband’s favorite game. The girl studied at the chess department and knows the features of this art.


In 2014, Galia became Sergei’s wife and since then she always goes with him to all competitions, being a kind of talisman for her husband. And at the end of 2015, the wife made Karyakin a father for the first time, giving her husband a son, who was named Alexey.

July 27, 2017 Sergey Karyakin. The chess player had a second son, Mikhail. Sergei regularly posts photos of his children and wife on social networks.


It is noteworthy that although Sergei Karjakin loves chess passionately, he considers it a sport, and every athlete must be physically strong and in proper shape. The young man pays close attention to physical training: he spends a lot of time in the pool and rides a bicycle. Among the grandmaster's favorite games are tennis, football, basketball, and bowling. In addition, Karjakin has a special physiotherapist, and his daily training includes jogging and walking on his hands. By the way, sometimes the chess player trains with his full namesake, world pentathlon champion Sergei Karyakin, as well as with track and field athlete Maria Savinova.

Sergey Karyakin now

The year 2017 was marked in the professional career of Sergei Karyakin with a rapid chess match. His opponent was Garry Kasparov, for whom this game was the first after his return. The competition took place in St. Louis, USA. The grandmasters played a draw.


As of 2018, Sergey Karyakin occupies the 7th position in the top ten players in the FIDE rating. Only one Russian is ahead of the grandmaster - Vladimir Kramnik, who occupies 4th place.

The original competition was offered to Sergei Karyakin by the creators of the program about child prodigies “Best of All!” The opponent of an adult chess player was the young genius Misha Osipov, who in 2016 lost the game due to his inability to use mechanical watch, because at that time the boy was only four years old. A year later, Misha came to the program more prepared.

Sergey Karyakin had to fight with the talented kid. The result of the competition was a draw, and the grandmaster, giving a comment, noted that until that moment he had never met such a gifted child, although he regularly participates in playing sessions with young chess players. Karyakin noted that Misha needs, without forcing things, to improve his playing skills and pay attention to comprehensive development.


One of the latest social projects that the grandmaster supported was the opening chess school in Khvalynsk, the artist’s homeland. The ceremonial event took place on the eve of Victory Day in a local art gallery, where the grandmaster held a simultaneous game with war veterans. Sergei Karyakin was struck by the provincials’ love for intellectual game. In the comments to the post in “ Instagram“Sergei noted that there were about a thousand people at the opening of the school.

Now Sergey Karyakin, on behalf of the Russian Chess Federation, is preparing to open a children's chess school in Artek during the summer holidays.

Awards

  • 2009 – winner of 71 international tournaments
  • 2010, 2012, 2014 – winner of the Russian Team Championship
  • 2013, 2014 – winner of the International tournament in Stavanger
  • 2013 – winner of the World Team Championship
  • 2015 – winner of the World Chess Cup
  • 2016 – winner of the Candidates Tournament

Good day, dear friend!

Sometimes a person becomes an identifying sign of an era. Sergey Karyakin , in my opinion, personifies the process of revival of chess in Russia with his chess career.

By revival I mean a return of interest in chess, both from the state and in society as a whole. However, if you have a different opinion on this matter, write in the comments. Perhaps I'm just wishful thinking.

Start

Sergey Aleksandrovich Karyakin born in Simferopol in 1990 year. I became acquainted with chess in 5 years.

According to his parents, his love for chess appeared immediately; Sergei could spend up to 7 hours a day playing chess. When there was no one to play with, he played with himself and was very emotional about this activity.

Hard work is always rewarded. The results were not long in coming.

After his first victories at children's competitions in Ukraine, then in Europe, Sergei was noticed and invited to the chess club of the city of Kramatorsk, a kind of “training ground” for young chess players in Ukraine.

When Sergei turned 12 , an event occurred that was listed in the Guinness Book of Records. Our hero Sergei became a grandmaster. And not just a grandmaster, but the youngest in history.

IN 2004. Sergei, as part of the Ukrainian team, becomes the winner of the Olympics. Chess, of course.

Becoming

IN 2009. Karyakin became a Russian citizen. Since then, he has competed for Russia in both individual and team tournaments.

Career is gradually developing. Maybe not so quickly, but steadily. Sergei wins a number of major international tournaments.


year 2012

  • Won the 2nd stage of the FIDE Grand Prix tournament.
  • In the same year, Sergei Karyakin became first at the World Rapid Chess Championship.

year 2013

  • Won the tournament 11 categories Stavanger 2013

year 2014

  • Second place in the Candidates Tournament, losing only to Anand.
  • Winner of the 11th category tournament Stavanger 2014

2015

  • Second prize-winner of the championship Russian Federation
  • Winner FIDE World Cup, held in Baku. In a most dramatic and spectacular fight (not a single draw), he defeated his compatriot in the final Peter Svidler .

Decisive game played already in blitz

It’s in board format:

At the foot of the peak

IN 2016 Sergei became the first in the candidates' tournament, and won the right to challenge the championship title. An interesting match with Magnus Carlsen , the current champion, took place in November of the same year.

The first twelve games played by the “classics” ended with the score 6:6 . In accordance with the rules, the match continued with a tie-break - 4 games of rapid chess. The scales, after some hesitation, tipped in favor of the current champion.

Nevertheless, Sergey Karjakin can safely count this match as one of his assets. An equal fight with the best chess player in the world today is a positive result in itself and gives confidence for the future.


This was confirmed a very short time later.

At the end of 2016, the World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championship took place in Qatar (Doha).

In the blitz, Sergey Karjakin scored a lot for such an even composition, 16,5 points from 21 possible. In chess language +12 ! At the same time, he defeated Magnus Carlsen in a personal match. This fact became the decisive factor in determining the winner, because Magnus showed the same result on points.

Sergei Karyakin was proclaimed world blitz champion .

One of his games in this tournament:

Karyakin – Ivanchuk , Doha, World Blitz 2016, 1:0

So, we see that Sergey Karyakin, despite his young age, is a titled chess player. He has already become the world champion in rapid chess and the winner of the Chess Olympiad. Sergey current champion world by blitz.

In addition, Sergey Karyakin is an Honored Master of Sports of Ukraine and Russia, awarded the Order of Merit, 3rd degree.

The main milestone remained unconquered - the title of world champion in classical chess. The most difficult and most prestigious.


Knowing Sergei’s dedication and hard work, there is no doubt that another assault on the chess pinnacle is just around the corner.

Curious facts

  • Sergei said that his real taste for playing chess came when he heard on TV the phrase “He can even become a queen.”
  • Sergey Karyakin is not averse to combining chess with walking. The session in London against 72 players lasted 6 hours. Only God knows how many kilometers the sessioner had to travel. It can be assumed that the distance is comparable to what a football player runs during a match.
  • Sergei became a grandmaster at the age of 12 years and two hundred and eleven days, becoming a Guinness World Records holder. Before him, the record holder was Ruslan Ponomarev, who received the title of grandmaster at the age of 14.
  • At the age of 12, Sergei already became the youngest. But that is not all. He became the youngest coach, being invited to the team of Ruslan Ponomarev, who was at that time a contender for the championship, and later became a champion.

Personal life

In 2014, Sergei married Galia Kamalova, whom he met while studying at the university.


Galia is Sergei’s constant companion at all tournaments.

In 2015, the newlyweds had a son, Alexey.

Without exaggeration, we can say that Sergey Karyakin, despite all his already won titles, remains one of the most promising Russian chess players in the fight for the chess crown.

We wish Sergei creative success and good luck at the chessboard!

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