GMNikita Vitiugov

Nikita Vitiugov was born in Leningrad, now Saint Petersburg, in 1987. He learned chess at five and studied with Alexey Yuneev. He won the Russian under-18 championship in 2005 and shared second place at the 2006 World Junior Championship. FIDE awarded him the grandmaster title in 2007. He later won two World Team Championships with Russia.

His individual victories include Gibraltar in 2013, the Grenke Open in 2017 and the inaugural Prague Masters in 2019. At the 2019 World Cup, he eliminated Sergey Karjakin and Wesley So before losing in the quarterfinals. He shared first in the 2017 Russian Superfinal but lost the playoff to Peter Svidler. In 2021 he finally won the national championship outright. His son had been born a month before that victory. In an interview afterward, Vitiugov said fatherhood had helped him take mistakes less personally and enjoy playing with less pressure.

He has also worked behind the scenes as a second for Svidler and Ian Nepomniachtchi. His writing includes books on the French Defence. Following a move to Spain, he transferred from Russia to England in August 2023. His club career includes three European Club Cup victories with Saint Petersburg teams.