Ian Nepomniachtchi

Ian Nepomniachtchi (born 14 July 1990) is a Russian chess grandmaster and former Russian chess champion. 
He won the European Youth Chess Championship three times, in 2000 in the U10 class and in 2001 and 2002 in the U12 class. In 2002 he also won the World Youth Chess Championship in the U12 class. By winning the Aeroflot Open in Moscow in February 2008, he qualified for the 2008 Dortmund Sparkassen Chess Meeting. In 2010, in Rijeka, he won the European Individual Chess Championship with 9/11. In the same year, in Moscow, he won the Russian Chess Championship; he defeated Sergey Karjakin in a playoff. In 2019, Nepomniachtchi played in the FIDE Grand Prix. He finished second in this tournament. Nepomniachtchi's second place finish qualified him to play in the Candidates Tournament 2020–21. On 26 April 2021 Nepomniachtchi won the Candidates tournament. Winning the Candidates tournamet qualifies Neopmniachtchi to play in the World Chess Championship 2021 match against the current World Chess Champion, Magnus Carlsen. He lost the World Chess Championship match 2021 in Dubai to Magnus. In 2022, he won the Canddates Match again.