Ruslan Ponomarev is an outstanding Ukrainian chess player, grandmaster, holder of the chess crown according to the 2002-2004 FIDE version. The best chess player rating was recorded in July 2011 - 2768 points.
Ruslan Ponomarev: biography of a chess player
The future genius of world chess was born on October 11 in 1983 in Gorlovka. His father was an engineer, took part in the liquidation of the Chernobyl accident, and his mother was a simple elementary school teacher in a secondary school. Chess successes and first titles began to appear at the age of seven. From a young age, Ruslan Ponomarev improves his chess skills, and at the age of nine he gets his first sports rank, at eleven - the title of candidate for master of sports, and very soon the young prodigy proves his superiority in world chess championship among children under 12 years old.
The youngest grandmaster in the world
In 1995, Ruslan Ponomarev with his family moved to the city of Kramatorsk, which is not far from Gorlovka. Here he meets the president of the local chess school, his namesake Mikhail Nikitich Ponomarev, who will train Ruslan on a professional level in the coming years.
In 1996, at the age of thirteen, Ruslan wins the UEFA European Under-18 Championship, and in 1997 he wins in a similar tournament, but at the world championship. After a series of such victories, Ruslan at the age of 14 is awarded the title of grandmaster, and he becomes the world record holder - the youngest grandmaster on the planet (now this record belongs to Sergey Karjakin, who was awarded the title at 12 years old and 211 days).
After winning the World Cup in 2002, Ruslan Ponomarev was awarded the title of Honored Master of Sports of Ukraine.
Championship preparation
It should be noted that Ruslan Ponomarev prepared for the world chess championship very persistently and thoroughly. His consultants were such outstanding grandmasters as Veselin Topalov, Gennady Kuzmin, Silvio Danailov and 12-year-old Sergey Karjakin, who at that time was the world champion in his age category. In the history of world chess, this has not happened before! For the first time, a 12-year-old student was the official assistant to the applicant for the world title.
Young Sergey Karjakin phenomenally remembered chess openings and could in a matter of seconds give out “reference information” about the position of the pieces and all classes of positions, therefore he was a “tactics coach”. Then, back in 2002, the world of chess did not yet know that Sergey Karjakin was the future contender for the world chess crown.
Final meeting of Ukrainians Ponomarev - Ivanchuk
The World Cup 2001-2002 was held in Moscow. The total prize pool of the tournament amounted to three million dollars. Cash rewards were distributed as follows: 1st place - 500 thousand dollars, 2nd place - 250 thousand dollars. The path to the final was not easy, Ponomarev had to overcome such chess players as Li Wenlyan (China), Sergey Tivyakov (Holland), Kiril Georgiev (Bulgaria), Alexander Morozevich (Russia), Evgeny Bareev (Russia), Peter Svidler (Russia).
Vasily Ivanchuk also had difficult confrontations, one of which was the most significant - the semifinal stage with the current world champion, Indian Viswanathan Anand. The final confrontation took place in January 2002. This year in Ukraine the interest in chess has grown as much as possible, because, in the finals of the World Cup, two Ukrainians met - an 18-year-old guy from Donbass and a 32-year-old Lviv chess player. As a result of the tense confrontation, Ponomarev won with a total score of 4.5 by 2.5 points.
Ruslan Ponomarev becomes the FIDE world champion, winning the final meeting over the eminent Grandmaster from Lviv Vasily Ivanchuk. Of course, this achievement turns into a world record - the youngest FIDE world champion. After the World Cup, Ruslan Olegovich takes a month's pause, after which he goes to the famous chess tournament in Linares, where he takes second place. Officially, according to FIDE, R.O. Ponomarev remained the world champion until 2004.
