GM Ian Nepomniachtchi (“Nepo” for short) is a Russian super grandmaster who won the 2020-21 Candidates Tournament and challenged GM Magnus Carlsen for the 2021 World Championship.
Nepomniachtchi has a terrific overall record against world champions. At standard time controls, he has positive scores against GM Vladimir Kramnik (+5 -4 =4), GM Viswanathan Anand (+3 -2 =5), and even had a winning record against Carlsen (+4 -1 =6, with two wins coming during their youth careers) before their 2021 match. Nepomniachtchi also has positive records against GM Anatoly Karpov (+2 -0 =0 in 2013) and GM Garry Kasparov (+2 -0 =3 from 2017-21) in rapid/blitz, the only formats he has played them in.
A Chess.com member, Nepomniachtchi plays under the account lachesisq. In 2021, he signed a sponsorship deal with Chess.com.