Ian Nepomniachtchi

His grandfather Boris Iosifovich Nepomniashchy (1929–1998) was a famous teacher and lyricist in Bryansk.

Nepomniachtchi's first coaches were his uncle Igor Nepomniashchy, Valentin Evdokimenko, international master Valery Zilberstein, and grandmaster Sergei Yanovsky.

At age five, Nepomniachtchi moved to Bryansk with his first coach, Valentin Evdokimenko, and trained until Nepomniachtchi was 13.

Under the guidance of his coach, he took part in the World and European Championships.

Nepomniachtchi won the European Youth Chess Championship three times.

Ian Alexandrovich Nepomniachtchi (Ян Алекса́ндрович Непо́мнящий; born 14 July 1990) is a Russian chess grandmaster.

In 2000, he won the under-10 category, and in 2001 and 2002, he came first in the U12 championship.

In 2002, Nepomniachtchi also won the World Youth Chess Championship in the U12 category, edging out Magnus Carlsen on tiebreak score.

In 2007, he finished second in the C group of the Corus Chess Tournament in Wijk aan Zee earning his first grandmaster (GM) norm.

Later that same year, Nepomniachtchi gained his second GM norm at the European Individual Chess Championship in Dresden.

The third and final norm required for the GM title was won at the 5th Vanya Somov Memorial – World's Youth Stars tournament in Kirishi.

Nepomniachtchi won the latter event, edging out Rauf Mamedov, Parimarjan Negi and Zaven Andriasian on tiebreak score.

He has won two silver medals in the World Rapid Championship and a silver medal at the World Blitz Championship, as well as winning the 2008 Ordix Open.

In October 2022, he won a silver medal in FIDE World Fischer Random Chess Championship 2022.

By winning the Aeroflot Open in Moscow in February 2008, he qualified for the 2008 Dortmund Sparkassen Chess Meeting.

In this tournament, he shared second place after an undefeated run.

In the same year, he also won the Ordix Open, a rapid chess tournament in Mainz.

He won the gold medal in chess at the 2009 Maccabiah Games.

Nepomniachtchi won the 2010 and 2020 Russian Superfinal and the 2010 European Individual titles.

In 2010, in Rijeka, Nepomniachtchi won the European Individual Championship with a score of 9/11.

Later the same year, in Moscow, he won the Russian Chess Championship, after defeating Sergey Karjakin in a playoff.

At the Chess World Cup 2011, Nepomniachtchi defeated Isan Reynaldo Ortiz Suárez in the first round and Alexander Riazantsev in the second round in tiebreaks, but he lost to Gata Kamsky in the third round in tiebreaks.

In November 2011, Nepomniachtchi tied for 3rd–5th with Vasily Ivanchuk and Sergey Karjakin in the category 22 Tal Memorial in Moscow.

Nepomniachtchi's coach in 2011 was Vladimir Potkin.

He won the World Team Chess Championship as a member of the Russian team in Antalya (2013) and Astana (2019).

In May 2013, Nepomniachtchi tied for 1st–8th with Alexander Moiseenko, Evgeny Romanov, Alexander Beliavsky, Constantin Lupulescu, Francisco Vallejo Pons, Sergei Movsesian, Hrant Melkumyan, Alexey Dreev, and Evgeny Alekseev in the European Individual Championship.

The following month, Nepomniachtchi finished second to Shakhriyar Mamedyarov in the World Rapid Chess Championship, held in Khanty-Mansiysk.

In August 2013, Nepomniachtchi participated in the Chess World Cup 2013.

He was defeated by Wei Yi in the first round.

In October 2013, he tied for first with Peter Svidler in the Russian Championship Superfinal, finishing second on tiebreak.

Over the course of 2013, Nepomniachtchi's blitz rating surged from 2689 in January to 2830 in December.

Nepomniachtchi won the silver medal at the World Blitz Chess Championship of 2014 held in Dubai.

Nepomniachtchi won the 2015 European Team Chess Championship in Reykjavík with the Russian team.

He also won the 2016 Tal Memorial and both the 2008 and 2015 Aeroflot Open events.

In October 2016, Nepomniachtchi was ranked fourth in the world in both rapid chess and blitz chess.

In December 2019, he qualified for the Candidates Tournament 2020–2021 by finishing second in the FIDE Grand Prix 2019.

He won the 2021 FIDE Candidates tournament with a round to spare, which qualified him as the challenger in the World Chess Championship 2021 for the world championship title but lost his challenge to defending champion Magnus Carlsen.

In July 2022, he won the 2022 FIDE Candidates tournament with a round to spare, thereby winning two Candidates tournaments in a row and again qualifying him to play in the World Chess Championship 2023; additionally, he garnered the highest score in any Candidates tournament since the modern format was introduced in 2013.

However, he once again lost his challenge for the World Chess Championship title after losing to Ding Liren in 2023 during the 4th game of tiebreaks.

Nepomniachtchi learned to play chess at age four.