IMKonstantin Kornienko

Konstantin Kornienko developed at Volgograd's Sports School No. 20 and had been playing for more than nine years by the time he was sixteen. He won the Challengers tournament at the 2025 Oskemen festival in Kazakhstan with 7½/9. He also earned silver in the Russian under-19 blitz championship in Sochi. In an interview about his progress toward the International Master title, he described earning his first norm in Armenia and another in Moscow. He completed the final norm at sixteen. The Russian Chess Federation announced approval of his International Master title in September 2026. Local television identified him as the youngest player from the Volgograd region to obtain the title.