Ian Nepomniachtchi

Ian Nepomniachtchi is a Russian chess grandmaster born in 1990 who has been one of the strongest players in the world since the mid 2010s. He learned the game at the age of four, won European Youth Championship titles in 2000, 2001 and 2002, and took the 2002 World Youth under-12 title on tiebreak ahead of Magnus Carlsen. He earned the grandmaster title in 2007 and later won the European Individual Championship in 2010 and the Russian Superfinal in 2010 and 2020. He won the Candidates Tournament in both 2021 and 2022, becoming one of very few players to win two in a row, and each time challenged for the world title: he lost to Carlsen in 2021 and, after tiebreaks, to Ding Liren in 2023. He also won team gold with Russia at the World Team Chess Championship in 2013 and 2019, and in 2024 he shared the World Blitz Championship with Carlsen after their final ended level.