Young Hopes of Ukrainian Chess
You never know who a child who stares intently at the chessboard will become — maybe the next world champion.
There is no age in chess. Here the youngest can surprise the experienced, and one precise move can change the whole game. Ukraine has always been famous for its strong grandmasters, but today, to the loud applause addressed to Magnus and Gukesh, a new generation is growing up – young, brave, talented children. They do not yet bear the loud titles of "world champions among adults", but they already show a game that is impossible to ignore.
This blog is about those who yesterday played at home with their grandfather, and today represent the country where I come from, at the European and World Championships. About those who are 7, 9, 12 or 15 years old, but whose minds already make moves 10 steps ahead. About the future of Ukrainian chess - in children's eyes and confident hands.
Welcome, dear readers, to my new blog! Today I have the honor to tell you about five young Ukrainian chess players, their victories, style of play, character and path to success. I always say: it is with them – with the small pieces on the big chessboard – that the big story begins.
Table of contents
Maksym Kryshtafor (born March 4, 2014 in the southern Ukrainian city of Odessa) is a promising chess talent who has been steadily moving towards the top since an early age. He first started playing chess at the age of 3 years and 10 months. Almost immediately, he showed exceptional talent: at the age of 4, he took part in his first tournaments, and by the age of 6, he had achieved the standard of the first adult discharge.
By the age of 7, Maksym was confidently beating older opponents, and also won the title of Odessa and regional champion in the U10 category. It was then that local journalists began to call him a "little chess genius", noting his ability to concentrate and the depth of logical thinking.
His main triumph was the victory at the 2022 European Championship among children and young people in Thessaloniki (Greece). In the U8 age category, he won all 18 games in blitz and won 8 out of 9 in rapid, winning two gold medals. It is especially impressive that he beat the British leader of the rating three times: twice in blitz and once in rapid.
At the tournament, he is officially trained by grandmaster Nazar Firman and chess player Svetlana Cherednichenko. It is believed that such victories are the result of not only talent, but also intensive training.
With the outbreak of the war, the family moved to Great Britain with the support of the British Chess Federation. Despite the change in climate and flights, at the European Championship 2022, Maksym looked very focused – before the start of the tournament, he practically did not sleep, but this did not prevent him from achieving victories.
Maksym dreams of playing with world champion Magnus Carlsen – and judging by the pace of development, this is already a very realistic goal.
He already has everything he needs for a great chess career: understanding of the game, discipline, family support, experienced coaches and, most importantly, a sincere love for chess. If he does not stop but continues to grow, then in a few years we may see him at the World Junior Championship or even in the adult tour.
Maksym Kryshtafor is not just the hope of Ukrainian chess. He is a future grandmaster, whose name we will still hear on the world stage.
Myron Netrebka from Dnipro is one of the most promising young chess players in Ukraine, who has already earned recognition on the international arena. Having become interested in chess at the age of 4,5, he quickly moved from home play to serious tournaments and already at the age of 5 won prizes in regional competitions. His first major success was the title of European Champion U8 in the rapid and blitz categories in Prague in September 2024 – and he became the youngest winner of this continental tournament.
His victories have become a pattern: in April 2025, at the World Blitz Championship among boys U8, held in Rhodes, Myron scored 9,5 points out of 11 possible and won the title of world champion. Just a month later, in June 2025, he became a two-time champion of Ukraine in the U8 category — he won 9 out of 9 in rapid and 9,5 out of 11 in blitz, confirming his status as the strongest young chess player in the country.
Myron forms his playing style as a combination of positional thinking and creativity. In an interview, his coach Gennady Gutman noted:
Myron played every game with the desire to win and as a result played very risky... However, he managed to win many games, which brought him the title of European Champion
This speaks of the player's internal readiness to go for combinations that require precision, balancing between aggression and calculation.
The daily regime of the young grandmaster — up to 5 hours of classes at a chess school and regular home training — forms his versatile skills. Despite his young age, he already has an adult 1st category in chess, which he received at the age of 6. His desire and will are not just words. Myron is purposefully moving towards big victories and has the necessary qualities for this: attention, endurance and creativity.
As for prospects, we can safely say: he has a brilliant future. He is already a world and European champion, winning national titles and developing under the guidance of experienced coaches. The next logical step is participation in more adult categories, fulfilling the standards of international titles. With such a base, hard work and ambitions as Miron, he is capable of becoming a strong figure on the world chess scene in the next 3-5 years.
Daria Kravchuk from Bucha is a bright representative of the new wave of Ukrainian chess talents. She took her first steps at the chessboard just two years ago at the Bucha Chess Academy Kiwi — and in this short time she has already managed to take part in about a dozen tournaments, including three international ones, where she repeatedly won prizes in Lithuania, Romania, Slovenia and Poland.
Daria's most notable achievement is the silver medal at the World Rapid Chess Championship among chess players U10 years old in Rhodes (Greece) in April 2025. In a tense struggle among 29 participants, she scored 9 out of 11 possible points, losing only to her opponent from India. At the same time, Daria became the absolute champion of Ukraine U10 years old, taking first place in three disciplines at once — classical play, rapid and blitz.
I am familiar with her game and I would like to note that Daria combines a disciplined, thoughtful approach with a creative search for tactical possibilities in her game. She does not just play rationally – she experiments, tries new moves, sometimes takes risks, which can be observed even in games lasting up to three hours at children's tournaments. At the same time, according to her grandfather, she does not give up even in the most difficult situations, she fights to the end.
Daria Kravchuk's prospects are bright and promising. She already has international recognition, national titles, and is now on the verge of fulfilling the standards for international chess titles. If the pace and quality of her training continues, we can expect her to participate in adult youth (U12, U14) categories, and then at the level of European and world championships among youth.
Svyatoslav Bazakutsa is a Ukrainian chess player from Kharkiv, who in recent years has become one of the most recognizable figures among the youth chess elite of Ukraine and Europe. Thanks to his perseverance, deep strategic thinking and serious preparation, he has repeatedly become the winner of prestigious national and international tournaments.
His meteoric rise began at the age of U12, when in 2020 he became the absolute champion of Ukraine among boys U12 - winning "gold" in all three types of chess: classical, blitz and rapid. In 2021, Svyatoslav confirmed his advantage, winning the title of Ukrainian champion U14 in the classical game. He also became a silver medalist in rapid chess and took 4th place in blitz.
His name became widely known on the international arena after his brilliant performance at the 2022 European Championship, where he won gold in rapid and silver in blitz among players U14. All these achievements became a logical step to a new major title: in 2024, Svyatoslav Bazakutsa became an International Master (IM).
In 2024, he also achieved one of the most resonant victories in his career - he won the prestigious international tournament Norway Chess Open, which brought together strong opponents from different countries. The victory in this tournament not only cemented his status in the international community, but also demonstrated his readiness to compete with the strongest.
Svyatoslav is distinguished by a strategically mature, positionally balanced style with the flexibility to switch to active tactical play when necessary. His calculation is deep, and his positional assessment is stable and accurate. He is equally strong in classical and rapid chess, which makes him a universal player.
Svyatoslav Bazakutsa has already received the title of International Master, the titles of Ukrainian and European Champion, as well as the experience of winning open world tournaments. His next goal is to achieve the Grandmaster (GM) norms, and given the pace of development, this is a matter of the coming years.
With such a game baggage, support from the professional environment and the ability to achieve results, Svyatoslav has every chance of becoming the leading grandmaster of Ukraine, capable of competing at the top level.
Anastasiia Hnatyshyn is one of the brightest representatives of the young chess elite of Ukraine. She achieved her first major victories at the age of nine, winning the silver medal of the European U10 Championship, and then became famous by winning gold at the European Blitz U10 Championship in Tallinn, beating 83 opponents.
However, her real breakthrough was her victory at the World Rapid Chess Championship in Rhodes in May 2022, where Anastasiia scored an impressive 8,5 points out of 9 in the U12 category and became world champion. This title confirmed her consistency and ability to perform at the peak of her form.
Her success is the result of painstaking work under the guidance of honored coaches: the pupil of the chess school "Debut" is led by Vladimir Grabinsky, Anton Romashov and Viktor Zhelyandinov, and her chess family also has a significant influence on her success.
In terms of her playing style, Anastasiia demonstrates an impressive combination of discipline and tactical courage. She plays equally confidently in both classical and rapid formats. She deeply understands the position, but is not afraid of non-standard moves, which brings her success not only in blitz and rapid, but also in long games, where psychological stability and strategic clarity are important.
The prospects for Anastasiia Hnatyshyn are extremely bright. She already has the title of world and European champion among girls U12, as well as stable results in various formats. If Anastasiia continues to develop under the guidance of experienced specialists, then new titles and titles await her ahead with the prospect of conquering the national and world levels among women.
Each of the heroes of this blog is more than just a young player. This is a separate story about character, patience, intelligence and inspiration. They do not just win games – they teach us to see more broadly, think deeper and not give up after failure.
Young chess hopes of Ukraine are already representing this country on the world stage. And if we dream of new grandmasters, world champions, opinion leaders – then it all starts with such goal-oriented children.
We will support them, talk about them, believe in them. When they sit down at the chessboard – they play not only for themselves. They play for the future.
It was incredibly interesting for me to write this blog. Since I personally played with many of these guys at OTB tournaments, so I know their game and incredible potential like no one else. Thanks to everyone who was with me, read this blog. I hope it inspired you and convinced you that even children are capable of great achievements. Until new blogs!
P.s. Of course, the list of talented children of chess players of Ukraine is not limited to these five guys! So the second part is quite possible!
