IMSergey Sklokin-Bagiyan

Sergey Sklokin-Bagiyan began chess in 2020 as a second grader in Reutov, near Moscow. His parents initially enrolled him to fill the gap between his school dismissal and his sister's later activities. Although the club hesitated to accept a beginner, he soon won its New Year tournament. An online event introduced him to Yerevan's Caissa school and grandmaster Tigran Nalbandian, who invited him to group lessons. He later attended the school in person, often staying afterward to challenge its coaches. At the 2023 World Cadet festival in Batumi, he won the under-ten rapid, blitz and solving titles. He caused a major upset at the 2025 World Blitz Championship in Doha by defeating reigning classical world champion Gukesh Dommaraju. Through his mother, Svetlana Bagiyan, he has Armenian roots, and in 2026 he began representing Armenia. He completed his final international-master norm at the Aeroflot Open and received the title that April. His first grandmaster norm followed at the Vladimir Dvorkovich Memorial in Aktobe, where he remained unbeaten against a field including Andrey Esipenko and Daniil Dubov. Later in 2026, he finished eleventh on tiebreak in the Abu Dhabi Masters.