Sergey Karjakin World Championship challenger of 2016 and once the youngest grandmaster ever
Sergey Karjakin is a Russian grandmaster who challenged Magnus Carlsen for the world title in 2016. At 12 years and 7 months he became the youngest grandmaster in history, a record that stood for 19 years. Karjakin is famous for stubborn defence, which earned him the nickname “Minister of Defence”. He is also very strong in rapid and blitz.
Sergey Karjakin: key facts
- Full name
- Sergey Karjakin
- Born
- January 12, 1990, Simferopol, Crimea
- Country
- Russia
- Title
- Grandmaster (2003; norms completed at 12 in 2002)
- Peak rating
- 2788
- Games in the archive
- 3,572 (1934–2025)
- Record in the archive
- 1,339 wins · 1,539 draws · 694 losses
- Win rate
- 37.5%
Sergey Karjakin's career
The results that made the name
Karjakin in numbers
From the 3,572 games in the Rama Chess archive
He played for Ukraine until 2009 and for Russia after that. His best rating is 2788 (July 2011). FIDE banned him for six months in 2022 after his public statements on the war in Ukraine, and he has not played FIDE-rated events since; he left the active rating list in 2024.
Karjakin's most frequent opponents
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