Ian Nepomniachtchi

Ian Nepomniachtchi is an Russian chess Grandmaster. He earned the Grandmaster title at the age of 17 in 2007 and won the prestigious Aeroflot Open the next year, thus qualifying to 2008 Dortmund Sparkassen Chess Meeting. In 2010 he won the European individual championship as well as the Russian Superfinal after defeating Sergey Karjakin in a play off. He has won two silver medals in World Rapid Championships and one in World Blitz Championship. He won the 2018 Dortmund Sparkassen Chess Meeting and was part of the Russian team which won the 2019 World Team Championship. In April 2021, Nepomniatchi won the 2020/2021 Candidates tournament with 8.5/14 points, qualifying him to play for the 2021 world championship.