Sergey Karjakin and Kateryna Dolzhikova get married

Karjakin and Dolzhikova become one of the strongest chess couples

The 19 years old Ukrainian grandmaster Sergey Karjakin married the 20 years old WGM Kateryna Dolzhikova on Friday, July 24th. At the wedding were invited 25 of the closest friends and family members. The new chess married couple signed the documents at the Central registry office in Kiev and later on continued the ceremony at the St. George Church.

The best man of Karjakin was Zahar Efimenko and the bride's mate was WFM Darya Orlyanskaya according to reports by gazeta.ua, cited by e3e5.com.

Sergey Karjakin and Kateryna Dolzhikova's relationship first started after the Dresden 2008 Chess Olympiad. "We knew each other for a long time, as we are both from Ukraine," commented Karjakin. "We became closer at the Dresden Olympiad disco. I invited Katya to dance and the next day we visited the Dresden gallery. A little after New Year's Eve we started thinking about the wedding." shared the Ukrainian GM.

A honeymoon in Yalta is ahead of the two players. Later, on August 7th, the married couple will travel to the Grand Prix tournament, where Karjakin will participate.

The marriage of one of the youngest ever Grandmasters and Olympic Champion GM Karjakin and the silver medalist from the World Mind Sports games WGM Dolzhikova makes them one of the strongest chess couples. Their average rating is 2541.5, a few points less than Bartozs and Monika Socko and a few points higher than Al-Modhiaki - Zhu Chen. Top of the table are still Grischuk - Zhukova with over 2600 average ELO (a list of chess couples here).

Chessdom.com wishes GM Karjakin and WGM Dolzhikova all the best!

GM Sergey Karjakin

WGM Kateryna Dolzhikova

The happy couple

Photos and information gazeta.ua and e3e5.com