 Matlakov in 2023 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | Maxim Sergeevich Matlakov (1991-03-05)5 March 1991 (age 34) Leningrad, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union |
| Chess career | |
| Country |
|
| Title | Grandmaster (2010) |
| FIDE rating | 2606 (November 2025) |
| Peak rating | 2738 (November 2017) |
| Peak ranking | No. 23 (November 2017) |
Maxim Sergeevich Matlakov (Максим Сергеевич Матлаков; born 5 March 1991) is a Russianchess grandmaster. He won theEuropean Individual Chess Championship in 2017.
He acted as asecond forPeter Svidler in theCandidates Tournaments of 2013, 2014[1] and2016.[2]
Together with 43 other Russian elite chess players, Matlakov signed an open letter to Russian presidentVladimir Putin, protesting against the2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine and expressing solidarity with theUkrainian people.[3]
Matlakov won three medals at theWorld Youth Chess Championships: two bronze, in the Under 12 section in 2003[4] and Under 14 in 2005,[5] and a gold, in the Under 18 in 2009.[6] Also in 2009, he won theSaint Petersburg Chess Championship[7] and theAivars Gipslis Memorial.[8]Matlakov won the Russian Junior (U20) Championship of 2011.[9]
He tied for second, finishing sixth on tiebreak, at the 13thEuropean Individual Chess Championship in 2012 with a score of 8/11 points and qualified for theChess World Cup 2013.[10][11] He defeated Dutch GMJan Smeets in the first round[12] and was eliminated by Azerbaijani GMShakhriyar Mamedyarov in the second round tiebreaker. In 2013 Matlakov tied for first in theChigorin Memorial in Saint Petersburg, placing third on tiebreak, behindPavel Eljanov andDmitry Kokarev respectively.[13]
In February 2014, he was joint winner withAlexander Moiseenko of the Moscow Open.[14] In July 2014, he tied for second withParimarjan Negi,Gawain Jones andMaxim Rodshtein at thePolitiken Cup inHelsingør, placing third on countback.[15] Matlakov won theblitz event from the tournament.[16] At theChess World Cup 2015 he was knocked out in the first round byGadir Guseinov after losing the first set ofrapid tiebreakers.
In April 2017, he finished tied for first withNikita Vitiugov,Étienne Bacrot andZdenko Kožul in the Grenke Chess Open inKarlsruhe, Germany.[17] Matlakov took second place on tiebreak score.[18] In June, he won the European Individual Championship inMinsk edging outBaadur Jobava andVladimir Fedoseev on tiebreak, after all three players scored 8½/11 points.[19][20]
Matlakov won individual silver medal playing board 5 for Saint Petersburg in the 2013European Club Cup. Two years later, in the same event he won team bronze medal with St. Petersburg's team "Mednyi Vsadnik".[21] In 2017, Matlakov played for team Russia, which won the silver medal in theWorld Team Chess Championship inKhanty-Mansiysk.[22][23]
