Ruslan Ponomariov facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Ruslan PonomariovРуслан Пономарьов |
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Ponomariov in 2023
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| Full name | Ruslan Olehovych Ponomariov |
| Country | Ukraine |
| Born | 11 October 1983 Horlivka, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union |
| Title | Grandmaster (1998) |
| World Champion | 2002–2004 (FIDE) |
| FIDE rating | 2631 (August 2025) |
| Peak rating | 2764 (July 2011) |
| Peak ranking | No. 6 (April 2002) |
Ruslan Olehovych Ponomariov (Ukrainian: Русла́н Оле́гович Пономарьо́в; born on October 11, 1983) is a talented Ukrainian chess Grandmaster. He held the title of FIDE World Chess Champion from 2002 to 2004. He became the youngest person to win this title at just 18 years and 104 days old. At that time, the world chess championship title was split between two organizations. Ruslan also won the Ukrainian Chess Championship in 2011.
He finished second in the Chess World Cup 2005 and Chess World Cup 2009. He also reached the semi-finals in 2011 and the quarterfinals in 2007.
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Becoming a Chess Star
Ruslan Ponomariov was born in Horlivka, Ukraine. His father taught him how to play chess when he was only five years old. By the age of nine, he was already a first-category player. In September 1993, he moved to Kramatorsk. There, he attended the A. V. Momot Chess School and trained with Boris Ponomariov.
In 1994, at ten years old, he placed third in the World Youth Chess Championship for players under 12. He won the European Youth Chess Championship for players under 18 in 1996, when he was just twelve. The next year, he won the World Under-18 Championship. In 1998, at fourteen, he earned the Grandmaster title. This made him the youngest player ever to achieve this title at that time. In 1999, he was part of the Ukrainian youth team that won the U-16 Chess Olympiad in Artek, Ukraine.
Ruslan also achieved other great results. He won the Donetsk Zonal tournament in 1998. He scored well in the European Chess Club Cup in 2000, even beating the FIDE World Champion, Alexander Khalifman. He tied for first place at Torshavn in 2000. In the 2001 Chess Olympiad in Istanbul, he scored 8½ out of 11 for Ukraine, winning a gold medal on board 2. He also won the 2001 Governor's Cup in Kramatorsk.
FIDE World Champion in 2002
In 2002, Ruslan Ponomariov defeated his fellow Ukrainian player, Vasyl Ivanchuk, in the final of the FIDE World Chess Championship 2002. He won with a score of 4½-2½. This made him the FIDE World Champion at the age of 18. He is still the youngest person to hold this title. However, because he won it during a time when the world chess championship was split, he was not the only world champion.
In the same year, he finished second in the strong Linares tournament, right behind Garry Kasparov. His performance in the 2003 Corus tournament was not as strong. Despite having a high Elo rating, he finished joint eleventh out of fourteen players. At Linares that same year, he finished fifth out of seven players.
There were plans for him to play a match against Garry Kasparov in Yalta in September 2003. The winner would then play another match as part of a plan to reunite the World Chess Championship. However, this match was canceled by FIDE. Ruslan Ponomariov remained FIDE World Champion until Rustam Kasimdzhanov won the FIDE World Chess Championship 2004.
After the Championship
On his 20th birthday, October 11, 2003, Ruslan Ponomariov became the first famous chess player to lose a game because his mobile phone rang during play. This happened in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, during the European Team Chess Championship.
In 2004, Ruslan won a gold medal with the Ukrainian team at the 2004 Chess Olympiad in Calvià, Spain.
In 2005, he won the 15th Ciudad de Pamplona tournament. He also won a rapid chess tournament in Odesa, Ukraine, and the Golden Blitz Cup in Moscow. Later that year, he reached the final of the 2005 Chess World Cup but lost to Levon Aronian. Ponomariov also famously defeated the chess computer Fritz in a tournament in Bilbao, Spain. This was the last time a human player beat a top chess computer in a regular tournament game.
In 2006, he shared first place with Aronian and Peter Leko in the Tal Memorial tournament in Moscow.
His second-place finish in the Chess World Cup 2005 allowed him to play in the 2007 Candidates tournament. Ruslan lost in the first round to Sergei Rublevsky. He has not qualified for a Candidates tournament since then.
In 2009, he tied for first place with Hikaru Nakamura at the Donostia Chess Festival in San Sebastian, Spain. Nakamura won the tie-break games. Ponomariov also finished second in the 2009 Chess World Cup. He reached the final against Boris Gelfand from Israel. After many drawn games, Gelfand finally won in a set of blitz games.
In July 2010, Ruslan Ponomariov won the important Dortmund Sparkassen Chess Meeting in Dortmund. He was one point ahead of Lê Quang Liêm from Vietnam. In September of that year, Ukraine won gold again at the 2010 Chess Olympiad in Khanty-Mansiysk. Ruslan was part of this winning team.
In February 2011, Ruslan showed great improvement at the strong Aeroflot Blitz tournament in Moscow. He finished second, just half a point behind Shakhriyar Mamedyarov.
In June 2011, he won the 80th Ukrainian Chess Championship. This was considered the strongest championship ever held in the country. He scored 8½ out of 11 games.
Personal Life
Ruslan Ponomariov is married to Ines, who is a Spanish interpreter. They have known each other since 2008. They live in Bilbao with their son, Yaroslav.
Awards and Honors
- Honorary Diploma of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine
See also
In Spanish: Ruslán Ponomariov para niños
