Vladislav Artemiev was born on March 5, 1998, in Omsk and learned the game at age six. He quickly impressed his first coaches: they were struck by his speed of thought and unique, incomparable view of chess. Vladislav played his first tournament at the age of 10, and at 12 he became a medallist of the European Championship "under 14." In the next two years, he conquered the prestigious children's tournament "Young Stars of the World" in Kirishi. In 2013, he scored 10.5/11 there, shortly before becoming the Russian youth champion. At 12, he earned the International Master title, and at 15, the Grandmaster title.
As a teenager, he confidently competed with adults, demonstrating his exceptional resourcefulness and sharp combinational talent. Following in Carlsen's footsteps, he believed that the fate of a game should be decided not in the quiet of an office, but over the board. His opening preparation would lag behind his opponents for a long time, but his ability to create problems out of nothing, keenly sense the slightest positional nuances, combined with excellent endgame technique, would become his "calling card," allowing him to achieve outstanding results. Above all, in faster time controls – his rating and achievements in rapid and blitz would always be slightly ahead of classical chess.
In 2014, Artemiev dominated the Moscow Open with a score of 8/9, showing a performance rating of 2869. In 2015, he had a series of successes: he won in Tashkent, in the top division of the Russian Championship, and by performing well in the super-final, he earned a spot in the World Cup, where he advanced two rounds. A year later, Vladislav fell just short of becoming the World "under 20" champion, but he won the Russian Blitz Championship with a margin of 2.5 points – 18/22! In 2017, he repeated his blitz success with 15.5/20, after which he became the best at the Mind Sports Games in China, where he scored 16/22 in the rapid+blitz mix, leaving behind many elite players, including Ding Liren, Grischuk, and Mamedyarov... By summer, his rating had approached 2700, and after a successful Aeroflot Open, the Russian finally joined the club of the elite.
But the true breakthrough came in 2019 when Artemiev won the powerful Gibraltar Open (8.5/10), the individual European Championship (8.5/11), and the strong round-robin Poikovsky tournament one after the other. His rating soared to 2761 within just three months, allowing him to break into the top-10 for a month! By the end of the year, he solidified his status by winning "gold" at the World Team Championship (6.5/8) with the Russian team and "silver" at the World Rapid Championship.
Subsequently, consistent yet unremarkable results led to a rating drop. His first and so far only attempt at Wijk aan Zee in 2020 resulted in 6/13. In the World Cup, he reached the Round of 16 three times in a row without progressing, and he was unable to achieve more than a "+3" score in the FIDE Grand Swiss. At this point, Vladislav (who by then had married and had two children) apparently scaled back his ambitions, settling for local successes such as winning the playoff of an online series against Carlsen and achieving two consecutive victories in the Russian Championship (2023 – 8.5/11, and 2024). Artemiev is still capable of defeating anyone, especially in rapid formats (as shown by his "bronze" at the 2023 World Blitz Championship). Time will tell if he takes another shot at the world title.
