Good day, dear friend!

Sometimes a person becomes an identifying sign of an era. Sergey Karyakin , in my opinion, personifies the process of revival of chess in Russia with his chess career.

By revival I mean a return of interest in chess, both from the state and in society as a whole. However, if you have a different opinion on this matter, write in the comments. Perhaps I'm just wishful thinking.

Start

Sergey Aleksandrovich Karyakin born in Simferopol in 1990 year. I became acquainted with chess in 5 years.

According to his parents, his love for chess appeared immediately; Sergei could spend up to 7 hours a day playing chess. When there was no one to play with, he played with himself and was very emotional about this activity.

Hard work is always rewarded. The results were not long in coming.

After his first victories at children's competitions in Ukraine, then in Europe, Sergei was noticed and invited to the chess club of the city of Kramatorsk, a kind of “training ground” for young chess players in Ukraine.

When Sergei turned 12 , an event occurred that was listed in the Guinness Book of Records. Our hero Sergei became a grandmaster. And not just a grandmaster, but the youngest in history.

IN 2004. Sergei, as part of the Ukrainian team, becomes the winner of the Olympics. Chess, of course.

Becoming

IN 2009. Karyakin became a Russian citizen. Since then, he has competed in Russia in both individual and team tournaments.

Career is gradually developing. Maybe not so quickly, but steadily. Sergei wins a number of major international tournaments.

2012

Won the 2nd stage of the FIDE Grand Prix tournament.
In the same year, Sergei Karyakin became first at the World Rapid Chess Championship.

2013

Won the tournament 11 categories Stavanger 2013

2014

Second place in the Candidates Tournament, losing only to Anand.
Winner of the 11th category tournament Stavanger 2014

2015

Second prize-winner of the championship Russian Federation
Winner FIDE World Cup, held in Baku. In a most dramatic and spectacular fight (not a single draw), he defeated his compatriot in the final Peter Svidler .

Decisive game played already in blitz

It's in board format:

At the foot of the peak

IN 2016 Sergei became the first in the candidates' tournament, and won the right to challenge the championship title. An interesting match with Magnus Carlsen , the current champion, took place in November of the same year.

The first twelve games played by the “classics” ended with the score 6:6 . In accordance with the rules, the match continued with a tie-break - 4 games of rapid chess. The scales, after some hesitation, tipped in favor of the current champion.

Nevertheless, Sergey Karjakin can safely count this match as one of his assets. An equal fight with the best chess player in the world today is a positive result in itself and gives confidence for the future.

This was confirmed a very short time later.

At the end of 2016, the World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championship took place in Qatar (Doha).

In the blitz, Sergey Karjakin scored a lot for such an even composition, 16,5 points from 21 possible. In chess language +12 ! At the same time, he defeated Magnus Carlsen in a personal match. This fact became the decisive factor in determining the winner, because Magnus showed the same result on points.

Sergei Karyakin was proclaimed world blitz champion .

One of his games in this tournament:

Karyakin – Ivanchuk , Doha, World Blitz 2016, 1:0

So, we see that Sergey Karyakin, despite his young age, is a titled chess player. He has already become the world champion in rapid chess and the winner of the Chess Olympiad. Sergei is the current world blitz champion.

In addition, Sergey Karyakin is an Honored Master of Sports of Ukraine and Russia, awarded the Order of Merit, 3rd degree.

The main milestone remained unconquered - the title of world champion in classical chess. The most difficult and most prestigious.

Knowing Sergei’s dedication and hard work, there is no doubt that another assault on the chess pinnacle is just around the corner.

Curious facts

Sergei said that his real taste for playing chess came when he heard on TV the phrase “He can even become a queen.”
Sergey Karyakin is not averse to combining chess with walking. The session in London against 72 players lasted 6 hours. Only God knows how many kilometers the sessioner had to travel. It can be assumed that the distance is comparable to what a football player runs during a match.
Sergei became a grandmaster at the age of 12 years and two hundred and eleven days, becoming a Guinness World Records holder. Before him, the record holder was Ruslan Ponomarev, who received the title of grandmaster at the age of 14.
At the age of 12, Sergei already became the youngest. But that's not all. He became the youngest coach, having been invited to the team of Ruslan Ponomarev, who was at that time a contender for the championship, and later became a champion.

Personal life

In 2014, Sergei married Galia Kamalova, whom he met while studying at the university.

Galia is Sergei’s constant companion at all tournaments.

In 2015, the newlyweds had a son, Alexey.

Without exaggeration, we can say that Sergey Karjakin, despite all his already won titles, remains one of the most promising Russian chess players in the fight for the chess crown.

We wish Sergei creative success and good luck at the chessboard!

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Sergey Aleksandrovich Karyakin is a Russian and Ukrainian chess player, whose name is included in the Guinness Book of Records as the youngest grandmaster in the history of chess. He achieved this title when he was not yet 13 years old. In addition, the chess player holds the titles of Honored Master of Sports of Russia and Ukraine and is the world champion in rapid chess, Olympic champion and winner of the 2015 World Cup.

Simferopol, where he was born on January 12, 1990, is noted as his hometown in the biography of Sergei Karyakin. The boy first sat down at the chessboard at the age of five, after he heard the slogan “Even a pawn can become a queen” on TV. His parents explained the rules of the game to him, and later Sergei showed incredible persistence and played with himself for many hours.

The first successes were not long in coming: back in elementary school Sergey becomes the winner of Ukraine and Europe among children. The boy is invited to one of the strongest chess clubs in the country, in Kramatorsk. Karjakin studies there for two years and under the guidance experienced craftsmen achieves record results.

Sergei trained daily, studying from 6 to 8 hours a day. Such perseverance results in a phenomenal achievement: at the age of 12, chess player Sergei Karyakin receives the title of grandmaster, for which his name is included in the Guinness Book of Records as the youngest holder of this title in history. By the way, Sergei soon added to this the title of the youngest trainer, as he began to train other people. But such an achievement was no longer recorded as a record.

At the age of 19, Karjakin decides that in Crimea he has no opportunity for further growth as a professional. He applies to obtain citizenship of the Russian Federation and, by decree of the President of Russia, becomes a Russian. In 2013, the young man received a graduate diploma from the Department of Social Pedagogy of the Russian State social university.

Chess

Since childhood, chess player Sergei Karjakin has had incredible success. While still young, he became a champion in Ukrainian and European competitions, and at the age of 14, as a member of the Ukrainian national team, he earned the title of champion of the Chess Olympiad. Since 2009, Sergey Karyakin has been playing games as a member of the Russian national team, where he was included immediately after receiving citizenship of the Russian Federation. He was a silver medalist at the Chess Olympiad and won the national club championship and the European championship as a member of the Tomsk-400 and Malachite teams.

In 2015, Karjakin beat Russian Peter Svidler in a dramatic final at the World Cup in Baku, and since then the grandmaster’s main dream has been to become the world champion. On the way to this peak, on March 28, 2016, Sergei became the winner among the contenders to challenge the current world champion. The Norwegian and Sergey Karjakin met in November of the same year and in 12 games decided who the strongest chess player on the planet was in 2016. As a result, after a long and equal fight, Carlsen managed to retain the title of world champion.

The Young Stars Match became a landmark event in the revival of international interest in chess. After losing to the computer in 1997, there was a downward trend in interest in this sport. But the Internet broadcast of the Carlsen-Karjakin tournament broke records in terms of the number of views. The competition attracted the attention of fans due to the intensity of the game and the lowest total age of the competitors in the entire history of chess championships.

In 2016, Sergey Karyakin received an invitation to become a member of the symbolic club of Mikhail Chigorin. The organization was created with the goal of preserving the names of all chess players who defeated the current champion in at least one game. Sergey Karjakin is number 104 on this list, which dates back to 1889. In total, 108 chess players from all countries are registered in the club.

In the same year, Sergey Karjakin at the World Rapid and Blitz Championship managed to beat his opponent in the second category and become the winner. Magnus Carlsen again became his opponent in the tournament.

Interesting fact eyewitnesses recorded a simultaneous game held by a Russian in London. Sergei played simultaneously against 72 opponents for six hours and during this period managed to walk over 10 kilometers around the hall.

The popularity of the chess player and his successes in the international arena attract interest in the grandmaster from international corporations and political figures. So in 2016, Kaspersky Lab became Sergey Karyakin’s partner in his matches. A year later, the chess player entered the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation of the VI convocation on the proposal.

Personal life

Sergei Karyakin's first wife was Ukrainian chess player Ekaterina Dolzhikova, who also achieved considerable results and is an international master. But for various reasons, the marriage of the young people later broke up.

Already in Russia, the chess player meets Galia Kamalova. They met for the first time when the young man had just entered the Russian State Social University. The girl, as a representative of the university, helped the chess player resolve issues with the move, but then this acquaintance did not continue.

A whirlwind romance that changed the personal life of Sergei Karyakin began when the guy returned with a silver medal at the Olympic chess tournament. By the way, Galia Kamalova herself is not an amateur at her husband’s favorite game. The girl studied at the chess department and knows the features of this art.

In 2014, Galia became Sergei’s wife and since then she always goes with him to all competitions, being a kind of talisman for her husband. And at the end of 2015, the wife made Karyakin a father for the first time, giving her husband a son, who was named Alexey.

July 27, 2017 Sergey Karyakin. The chess player had a second son, Mikhail. Sergei regularly posts photos of his children and wife on social networks.

It is noteworthy that although Sergei Karjakin loves chess passionately, he considers it a sport, and every athlete must be physically strong and in proper shape. The young man pays close attention to physical training: he spends a lot of time in the pool and rides a bicycle. Among the grandmaster's favorite games are tennis, football, basketball, and bowling. In addition, Karjakin has a special physiotherapist, and daily workout includes jogging and hand walking. By the way, sometimes the chess player trains with his full namesake, world pentathlon champion Sergei Karyakin, as well as with track and field athlete Maria Savinova.

Sergey Karyakin now

The year 2017 was marked in the professional career of Sergei Karyakin with a rapid chess match. His opponent was Garry Kasparov, for whom this game was the first after his return. The competition took place in St. Louis, USA. The grandmasters played a draw.

As of 2018, Sergey Karyakin occupies the 7th position in the top ten players in the FIDE rating. Only one Russian is ahead of the grandmaster - Vladimir Kramnik, who occupies 4th place.

The original competition was offered to Sergei Karyakin by the creators of the program about child prodigies “Best of All!” The opponent of an adult chess player was the young genius Misha Osipov, who in 2016 lost the game due to his inability to use mechanical watch, because at that time the boy was only four years old. A year later, Misha came to the program more prepared.

Sergey Karyakin had to fight with the talented kid. The result of the competition was a draw, and the grandmaster, giving a comment, noted that until that moment he had never met such a gifted child, although he regularly participates in playing sessions with young chess players. Karyakin noted that Misha needs, without forcing things, to improve his playing skills and pay attention to comprehensive development.

One of the latest social projects that the grandmaster supported was the opening of a chess school in Khvalynsk, the artist’s homeland. The ceremonial event took place on the eve of Victory Day in a local art gallery, where the grandmaster held a simultaneous game with war veterans. Sergei Karyakin was struck by the provincials’ love for intellectual game. In the comments to the post in “ Instagram“Sergei noted that there were about a thousand people at the opening of the school.

Now Sergey Karyakin, on behalf of the Russian Chess Federation, is preparing to open a children's chess school in Artek during the summer holidays.

Awards

2009 – winner of 71 international tournaments
2010, 2012, 2014 – winner of the Russian Team Championship
2013, 2014 – winner of the International tournament in Stavanger
2013 – winner of the World Team Championship
2015 – winner of the World Chess Cup
2016 – winner of the Candidates Tournament

Our hero today is chess player Sergei Karyakin. The biography and features of his activities will be discussed in detail below. We are talking about one of the most titled chess players of our time. At the age of 12, he became the youngest grandmaster in world history. To date, many achievements have been added to this. Among them is a World Cup winner and an Olympic champion.

Biography

We have already briefly described what is remarkable about chess player Sergei Karyakin. His biography will be discussed in detail below. Our hero was born on January 12, 1990 in Simferopol.

The mother of the future grandmaster claims that he became interested in chess at the age of five. However, at that time my parents did not attach serious importance to this. However, the family helped the child to the best of their ability, and our hero himself showed enviable persistence. Often he played alone for two participants. As a result, he lost and was upset to tears because of it.

His first successes were victories in championships among children of Ukraine, as well as Europe. He was noticed, after which he was invited to train at the Kramatorsk chess club. There he spends two years, it is during this period that he receives the title of grandmaster and ends up on the pages of the Guinness Book of Records.

About me

Chess player Sergei Karyakin claims that to achieve such high results His great hard work helps him. As a child, he trained almost every day and studied for 6-7 hours.

The coaches who were always nearby were able to provide enormous assistance. They supported with kind words and advice. To meet the schedule, our hero had to undergo individual training. After graduating from high school in Simferopol, chess player Sergei Karyakin became a student at the Russian State Social University. He chose “Social pedagogy” as his future specialty. Our hero was awarded a diploma of graduation in 2013.

Change of citizenship

In 2009, chess player Sergei Karyakin was already known in different corners peace. At this time, the grandmaster decides to move to Russia. He took this step, despite the enchanting success that was achieved as part of the Ukrainian team. After all, in 2004, our hero and his comrades became the champion of the Chess Olympiad. Main reason such a step means weak growth prospects due to the lack of opportunities for active training. It is important to mention here that chess player Sergey Karjakin sets himself a high goal - to achieve the status of world champion.

During his career, our hero was repeatedly a member of the Russian national team and performed at the most major international competitions. Among them, the World Team Championship should be noted. The decree confirming the granting of Russian citizenship to our hero was signed on July 25, 2009 by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.

Secrets of success

We have already noted how high-class chess player Sergey Karjakin is. His parents largely helped him achieve this result with their tireless support. However, this is not the only secret of our hero’s success. The grandmaster is convinced that, despite the prevailing stereotypes, a chess player needs excellent physical shape. Therefore he pays special attention special sports training. This person plays tennis, basketball, football, rides a bike, and swims a lot.

If we are talking about sports, we should tell you what physical characteristics Sergei Karyakin, a chess player, has. His height is 175 centimeters. Friends from the world of sports help the grandmaster keep in shape. For example, he conducts running training with Maria Savinova, an athlete. His activities also include hand walking. His full namesake helps him with it - Sergey Karyakin - world champion in sports. Our hero's headquarters always has a physical training coach, he draws up the daily routine for major tournaments. There is definitely room in Sergei’s schedule for proper sleep, gym and a swimming pool. To win big tournaments, you need to start practicing from a very early age. It is at this moment that the foundation is laid that allows you to achieve success.

Chess achievements

By the age of 26, our hero had won many titles. He became the winner of the 36th Chess Olympiad as part of the Ukrainian national team. He is also the second prize-winner of the fortieth championship as a member of the Russian team. He became the winner of the club championship as part of the Malachite and Tomsk-400 associations. There he became the strongest on the first board.

At the same time, our hero repeated his success. Together with Malachite he won the European Championship. In 2015, Sergey won the World Cup in Baku. Then our hero defeated his compatriot P. Svidler.

Family

You already know that Sergey Karjakin is a chess player. His personal life will be discussed below. He met his future wife Galina at the university where the grandmaster had transferred. By that time, a girl was already working there. They met for the first time when it was necessary to settle the formalities that were associated with the move, but at that moment they did not develop a close acquaintance. Only after the end of the Olympic tournament, in which the Russian team won second place, did the young people begin an affair.

Galina is not an amateur in the matter of her chosen one - she studied at the chess department, so she knows the intricacies of this craft. The young people got married in 2014. After her marriage, Galina became a regular at most of the tournaments in which her husband takes part, as well as the lucky mascot of a chess player.

One day our hero suggested that players who surpassed 2700 points be awarded the title of super grandmaster. However, the majority of chess players did not support such an idea. The genius of the game is not alien to the most ordinary hobbies. In his free time from tournaments, in addition to sports, this person likes to visit bowling alleys and cinemas. According to our hero, he first developed a craving for the game after watching an advertisement at the age of five that said that even a pawn can become a queen.

A simultaneous game was held in London. It was initiated by Lord Rothschild. Our grandmaster also took part in the game. Then he had to compete on twenty boards for 6 hours against 72 opponents. During the match, he managed to cover more than ten kilometers while moving around the hall. Our hero has many hobbies, but first of all, of course, Sergey Karyakin is a chess player. Photos of this person are attached to this material.

28-year-old Russian chess player Sergei Karyakin was included in the Guinness Book of Records as the world's youngest grandmaster in history chess games. A Ukrainian teenager from Simferopol received this title when he was not yet 13 years old. Having become addicted to chess at the age of five, he achieved incredible success with his perseverance. At the age of 14, Karyakin became an Olympic champion as part of the Ukrainian national team, and at the age of 19 he decided that Russian citizenship would give more freedom and scope for the growth of his sports career. Since 2009, Sergei became a member of the Russian national chess team and won first the Russian Club Championship and then the European Championship. In 2015, he fought for the world championship title with the Norwegian Magnus Carlsen, but lost, but he is not going to stop there, despite failure in the next year, 2016. Sergei Karyakin’s wife is confident in her husband’s impending victory.

Despite his youth and his constant busyness with the game, Karjakin is married for the second time. His first wife was the Ukrainian chess player Ekaterina Dolzhikova, an international master and a strong player, with whom the young grandmaster seemed to have one great passion in common. They got married in 2009 and were sure they did right choice, but time has shown that this is not so and they have much more disagreements than we would like. This marriage broke up without lasting long. Ekaterina is the champion of Ukraine, she remained in her homeland. Sergei, having received Russian citizenship, left.

He met Galia Kamalova when he was transferred to the Russian State social institution, where she worked as an assistant to the rector. Galia finished it educational institution with honors and was a student activist - the head of the institute elders. In addition, she still managed to work part-time in kindergarten and in the Moscow Chess Federation. Handing over documents beautiful girl, Sergei immediately wanted to get to know her better and, a few days later, offered to meet in the evening, and when she excused herself by being overwhelmed with work, he simply came to pick her up by car. And he continued to insist on meetings until they became close to each other. The young people dated for several years and Galia often accompanied Sergei to games: he admitted that her presence in the hall had a beneficial effect on creativity and brings good luck. The lovers got married in 2014, and a year later their son Alexey was born.

Galia Karyakina plays chess well and even received first class at school. She had a whole lot of hobbies in her childhood and youth - she grew up in a good family. Galia's father is a hero of Afghanistan, awarded the Order of the Red Star, and her grandfather is a veteran of the Great Patriotic War. My grandmother was a specialist at the Mission Control Center and knew many astronauts. In this intelligent family there are teachers, engineers, financiers and even centenarians, just like in Sergei’s family. This origin and upbringing leaves a special imprint on the descendants. The relationship between young spouses is characterized by attentiveness, care and a desire to bring joy to each other. Sergei loves to give gifts to his wife and enjoys babysitting his son, playing and walking with him a lot and often. Galia strives to create for her husband comfortable conditions for relaxation and is worried about the atmosphere of his stay at the competition.

The Karyakins live in the Odintsovo suburb of Moscow, in a cozy three-story mansion with a huge garden, in which there are many fruit trees and apples are born year after year. This is where the grandmaster returns from his tournaments; people wait patiently for him here. Raising a child deprives Sergei Karyakin’s wife of the opportunity to constantly be nearby on all trips, as before, but she is trying to fill this gap. Before Sergei’s match with Carlsen in New York, she, leaving little Alyosha in Moscow, nevertheless flew to the USA to check on the spot the living conditions of her favorite chess player, and then spent several days with him. Who knows, maybe another defeat of her husband in this fight, Galia attributes to her absence during the entire tournament. However, they both have no doubt that Karjakin will definitely become a champion. There is a whole happy life ahead.

https://www.site/2016-11-23/kto_takoy_sergey_karyakin_chto_ego_svyazyvaet_s_uralom_i_pochemu_segodnya_nochyu_ne_stoit_spat

A new world chess champion is being trained by a coach from Yekaterinburg

Who is Sergey Karyakin, what connects him with the Urals and why you shouldn’t sleep tonight

Sergey Karyakin was born in Crimea, but received Russian citizenship in 2009

At midnight Ural time, the ninth of twelve games of the match for the title of world chess champion will begin in New York. The current champion, Norwegian Magnus Carlsen, faces off against the youngest grandmaster in history, Sergei Karjakin, who is being trained by a coach from Yekaterinburg.

How is the world chess champion determined?

The match for the title of world chess champion consists of 12 games with classical time control. To win, one of the chess players needs to score more than six points (half a point is given for a draw, one point for a win). The prize fund of the tournament is 1 million euros.

Now, based on the results of eight games, the score in the match is 3.5:4.5 in favor of 26-year-old Sergei Karyakin. The first seven games ended in a draw; the eighth game was won by Karjakin, who played with black, so he took the lead. Chess players have a maximum of four games left to play. In order to become world champion, Karjakin only needs to draw them.

Karjakin's opponent is the current world champion, Norwegian Magnus Carlsen, the 16th world chess champion. He became a grandmaster at the age of 13 years 4 months 27 days. In 2013, Time magazine named Magnus one of the "100 Most Influential People in the World" in the "Titans" category.

The last time a Russian became a world chess champion was 10 years ago. Then Vladimir Kramnik won.

Who is Sergey Karyakin

Sergey Karyakin was born in Crimea, in Simferopol in 1990. At 12 years and 211 days, he became the youngest grandmaster in history. This achievement of the chess player is included in the Guinness Book of Records.

On July 25, 2009, Karyakin received Russian citizenship. “At that time in Crimea, besides me, there was only one other grandmaster who was retired, and I actually had no one to work with. And since my goal is to become a world champion, I realized that I wouldn’t be able to realize my talent if I didn’t move,” the chess player said in an interview. Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich helped him obtain citizenship.

When moving to Russia, the chess player received an apartment in Moscow; later he exchanged it for a luxurious house on Rublyovka. The living room in his house is big enough to play football in. “And we play. Once even my coach Sasha Motylev (grandmaster from Yekaterinburg - website) in the heat of battle hit a chandelier with a ball, fortunately he did not break it. In general, it’s good that the house is big: it’s convenient to hold training camps here, there’s a place for my regular mentors - Motylev and Yuri Dokhoyan - to stay,” Karyakin said in an interview with Soviet Sport.

Karjakin is married twice. His first wife in 2009 was chess player Ekaterina Dolzhikova. He married for the second time in the spring of 2014, then his chosen one was Galia Kamalova, who worked at the Moscow Chess Federation. The chess player has a son, Alexey, who turned one year old on October 19.

“Hockey players are usually forbidden to live with their wives before competitions, but chess is a delicate matter, here a date with your wife can both help and hinder,” Karyakin’s wife said in an interview with Moskovsky Komsomolets before the match.

How is Karyakin connected with Yekaterinburg?

In 2013-2014, Sergey Karyakin played for the Yekaterinburg chess club “Malachite”. “Sergei agreed to the club’s terms and played for Malachite for two years. We were then the strongest club in Russia and Europe. Once we became champions in Russia, and the second time we won silver. In Europe they were second and third... We have professional chess players, they themselves prepare for the games. Money is allocated for fundraisers that we can hold anywhere. You can gather anywhere, even in the USA, if you have money,” Malachite president and chess player Naum Rashkovsky told the site.

The Azerbaijani grandmaster Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Gata Kamsky from the USA, the leader of the Latvian national team Alexey Shirov, famous Russian grandmasters Ian Nepomniachtchi, Peter Svidler, Alexander Grischuk, Alexander Morozevich, Ekaterinburg grandmasters Igor Lysy, Andrey Shariyazdanov, Alexander Motylev also played at the Malachite club.

“Karyakin fit into the team. His coach was Ekaterinburg grandmaster Alexander Motylev. He still continues to train him and remains his friend. They met in Moscow when Motylev was coaching our national team, and then he automatically became Karyakin’s mentor. Sasha was one of the few who prepared Karjakin for the Candidates Tournament. I think that he is now in New York, together with Sergei,” says Rashkovsky.

“I remember how in Sochi, in the midst of the championship tournament between Magnus Carlsen and Vishy Anand, I terribly disappointed Karjakin. Someone gave him two bottles of chacha. I tried it and said that it was not chacha, but some kind of burnt cognac. However, this did not stop other chess players from drinking every last drop. But Karjakin didn’t drink in those days. Now I understand why. He was already thinking about how to beat Carlsen, who seemed to have almost playfully dealt with Vishy Anand. I really hope that in the near future I will have a reason to have a drink with our Sergei Karyakin. I’m keeping my fingers crossed,” wrote the head of the Sverdlovsk Region Chess Federation, famous businessman Igor Chernogolov, in his blog.

“There is no such difference in strength between Carlsen and Karjakin. Two of the strongest grandmasters are playing. Yes, Carlsen was called the favorite, but the fact that he should win is not at all necessary. Carlsen has no superiority over Karjakin in terms of play. It’s just that the Norwegian also plays rapid chess better than anyone, which is why he is called the favorite. But Carlsen does not yet have the superclass that, for example, Garry Kasparov has, who called the Norwegian a “brilliant chess player” and Karjakin “ordinary,” noted chess player Naum Rashkovsky.