IM (2001), GM (2003); Ukrainian Junior Champion (2001); Ukrainian Champion in 2002, 2012 and 2018.
Championships
<Youth> Korobov was runner up in the 2001 U16 World Championship behind Konstantine Shanava.
<Junior (U20)> Korobov won the 2001 Ukrainian Junior Championship with 8/10, aged 16, a point ahead of runner up Andrei Volokitin, and three points clear of Alexander Areshchenko, 11 year-old (!) Sergey Karjakin, and Sergey Fedorchuk.
<National> He first played in the Ukraine Championship 2001, breaking even with 4.5/9, and then went on to become the champion of Ukraine in 2002. He was second behind Volokitin in the 73rd Ukrainian Championship (2004) and third in the 2006 and 2008 Ukraine Championships before again breaking through to win the Ukrainian Championship (2012), a feat which also enabled his breakthrough into the 2700 club on live ratings for the first time. Korobov was outright 3rd in the Ukrainian Championship (2013) behind Yuriy Kryvoruchko and Ruslan Ponomariov respectively. He was =3rd at the Ukrainian Championship (2014).
<Continental> Korobov started playing in the European Championship in 2001, also participating in 2003, and from 2010-2013 inclusive. His best results were =5th (13th on count back) in the 12th European Individual Championship (2011), thereby qualifying him to play in the World Cup (2011), and 7.5/11 (half point off the lead) at the European Individual Championship (2013), which qualified him for the World Cup. Two years later, he placed =5th (6th on tiebreak) with 7.5/11 at the European Individual Championship (2015) to qualify for the World Cup 2015.
<World> At the World Cup (2011), he defeated Zhou Jianchao in the first round, but fell to Nikita Vitiugov in the second round. At the World Cup (2013), he defeated Vasif Durarbayli in the 1st round, Georgian #1 GM Baadur Aleksandrovich Jobava in the second round, Russian teenager GM Daniil Dubov in the third round and US GM Hikaru Nakamura in the Round of 16 (fourth round). However he was eliminated from the event in the quarter final (fifth round) by the eventual winner, former World Champion and Russian GM Vladimir Kramnik. Korobov's 7.5/11 in the European Individual Championship (2015) placed him in the group that qualified to play in the World Cup (2015) there he defeated Dragan Solak in the first round but was eliminated when he lost his second round match to Dmitry Andreikin.
Standard Tournaments
Good results flowed early. A strong second with 9.5/14 behind Zahar Efimenko at the double round robin Governor’s Cup that was held in 2001. This was followed by outright first with 7/9 at the round robin Summer Youth Board 2 Boys in 2002 and =1st at the X Anibal Open (2003) in Spain. There followed somewhat of a hiatus in his career, where he was semi-retired in practical terms for about 4 years before he re-entered serious tournament play with =1st at the 3rd Yefim Geller Memorial Tournament in Odessa in 2007, 2nd at the 2008 Czech Open, 1st at the Pardubice Open in 2009 and 2010, 1st at the double round robin Prince Mohammed International Tour in 2009, =1st at the New Year’s All-Ukrainian Open and a strong 2nd behind Le Quang Liem in Aeroflot Open (2010). He also won the Abu Dhabi Masters in 2010. In 2011, he came first in the Nakhchivan Open, this being followed by =1st at the Aeroflot Open (2012) with 6.5/9 placing 2nd on tiebreak behind Mateusz Bartel and ahead of Pavel Eljanov, Fabiano Caruana, Dmitry Andreikin and many other GMs He also took out first place at the double round robin 1st International GM Round Robin Chess Tournament in New Delhi in Dec 2012.
In January 2014, he placed =2nd with 6.5/9 at the Vladimir Dvorkovich Memorial held in Taganrog in Russia. In April 2014, he scored 6/9 - par for rating - placing =10th at the 16th Dubai Open. In July 2015 he was =1st with 8/11 at the 8th Annual K. Asrian Memorial, albeit 2nd on tiebreak behind Mikhailo Oleksienko.
Team events
Korobov first played for the Ukrainian national team (other than junior teams) at the FIDE World Team Championship (2013). He has played in many national leagues, including:
- the children’s national team in the Children’s Olympiad of 2000, scoring an individual gold for board 4, and helping his team to win the silver medal;
- European Club Cup in 2002, 2010, 2011, 2012 scoring team bronze and individual silver for his team PGMB Luhansk in the European Club Cup (2010). Playing first reserve for SOCAR Baku in the European Club Cup (2014), he won both individual and team gold;
- Russian Premier League 2008, 2012, 2013, scoring team bronze with his team (Yugra Khanty-Mansiysk region) in the Russian Team Championship (2013). He played for Siberia Novosibirsk in the Russian Team Championship (2015) (aka the Russian Premier League) on board five and won team gold and individual silver;
- Ukrainian Team Championships in 2001, 2002, 2006, 2009, 2010, 2011 scoring four individual and three team golds, one team and one individual silver, and two team and one individual bronze;
- European U18 Team Championships of 2001 and 2002 where he helped his team to team gold and silver respectively, also winning individual silver in 2002 playing board 2;
- European Youth Team Championship 2002;
- Arab Club Cups Championship 2003 and 2006 in Amman, Jordan, scoring individual silver and team bronze in the 2006 league, for his team Al-Mokawlon;
- Moscow team Championships 2007;
- Czech Liga and Extraliga of 2009, 2011, and 2012-13, and 2015;
- Croatian A League 2014 for the ŠK Zagreb club, winning individual silver and team gold and for the
- Turkish Super League in 2015.
He also scored an individual gold for Kharkov at the All-Ukrainian Games (Chess).
In 2014, he made his first appearance for Ukraine in an Olympiad, playing board 4 at the Chess Olympiad (2014), scoring 4.5/7, his team placing 6th.
Rapid and Blitz
Korobov had an exceptional year in the rapid form of the game in 2013. He scored 9.5/11 to place =4th in the European Rapid Championship and won the European Blitz Championship with 18.5/22, these events being in December 2013 in Warsaw. 2014 produced more modest results, including =3rd with 8/11 at the Ukraine Rapid Championship, 6.5/15 at the FIDE World Rapid Championship (2014), =2nd with 8.5/11 at the Ukraine Blitz Championship and 12.5/21 at the FIDE World Blitz Championship (2014). he scored an unplaced 16.5/30 at the European Blitz Championship but scored 9/11 at the European rapid Championship to place =5th, half a point from the shared lead.
Ratings and Rankings
Korobov made it into the top 100 ranked players in the world in November 2009 and has remained there since. He first crossed 2700 in September 2012. His highest rating to date was 2723 in January 2014, when he also reached his equal best world ranking of #25.
Other
His ICC handle is DarkOcean.
References
Live ratings: http://www.2700chess.com/;
Wikipedia article: Anton Korobov
Kibitzing
