Alexey Sarana was born on January 26, 2000, in the Moscow region. He began playing chess at the age of five, watching his older brother, and his precociousness with the game quickly drew attention. At the age of seven, he achieved his first successes, and at eight, he was already the champion of Russia for his age group. In subsequent years, he participated many times in youth world and European championships in various age categories, but he never managed to win gold.
However, Sarana won the Olympiad and other tournaments multiple times as part of the Russian youth team, and in 2018 he even joined the World Team. At the age of 16, Alexey became an International Master, and at 17, a Grandmaster. In 2018, when his rating exceeded 2600, he made a spectacular debut among adults: he won the Higher League of the Russian Championship on his first try – 6.5/9. He did not perform very well in the Superfinal (5/11), but it became clear that the country had gained a new bright player in him. A year later, he repeated this cycle: he again won the Higher League – 6.5/9 and again finished with a negative score in the elite round-robin. This "format mismatch" would hinder him for a long time from making an even bigger name for himself: Swiss tournaments, where he needed to move forward by winning games always suited him better than round-robin events, where reliability and strategic calculation come to the fore.
An aggressive attitude greatly helped Sarana online. He quickly established himself as one of the best blitz players in the world, winning or placing in many prestigious tournaments, fighting on equal terms with the elite: Carlsen, Nakamura, and others. His success in online chess extended not only to individual but also team tournaments. For instance, he became the winner of the European Team Championship and then the 2020 Olympiad as part of the Russian team.
After COVID, he experienced rapid growth. He won a series of rapid tournaments for the Russian Cup and triumphed in the final, claimed bronze at the European Championship – 8/11, and won the prestigious Junior U21 Round Table Open, where he finished ahead of Erigaisi, Gukesh, and other young top stars. Alexey was on the verge of joining the "2700 club."
In 2022, Sarana decided to change his citizenship, moving from Russia to Serbia. A year later, he won the European Championship: first individually – 8.5/11, and then as part of the Serbian team, achieving the best result on Board 2 – 6/8 (Board 1 was played by another former Russian, Predke). This allowed him to enter the elite circle – his rating rose to 2717 (24th in the world), and he received many favourable reviews for his fresh and bold play. That year ended for him with a third European Championship victory – this time, Sarana became the best in rapid chess.
