Ukrainian Grandmaster Ruslan Ponomariov: Highlights of a Colorful Chess Career

Born at the coal mining city of Horlivka in Ukraine, grandmaster Ruslan Ponomariov is one of the top chess players of today. This individual has gained the respect of the entire chess world after bagging the World Chess Federation (FIDE) championship title in 2002. In April of that same year, he reached the peak of his career by posting a career-high 2743 Elo rating.

As of January 2008, Ponomariov has a 2719 Elo rating which is good for eighteenth place among all the top players worldwide. This only proves how respectable he has become throughout the years. In his native country, he is third best overall trailing chess grandmasters Sergey Karjakin and Vassily Ivanchuk. Furthermore, people should also remember that he is once a genuine FIDE world champion.

The early parts of this young Ukrainian's career were truly remarkable. He finished in the top three of the World Under-12 Championship in two separate occasions. Ponomariov finished third overall in 1994 and won the top spot in 1995. He ended up dominating the ranks of the European Under-18 Championship event the following year. In 1997, he triumphed at the World Under-18 Championship tournament.

The eventful start of Ponomariov's professional chess career was capped off by the bestowing of the title 'grandmaster' when he was just 14 years old. This record-breaking feat established him as the youngest chess grandmaster ever. Besides these outstanding achievements, he has also graced a lot of prestigious chess events. The Donetsk Zonal 1998, European Club Cup 2000, and Chess Olympiad 2001 were among the international chess tournaments that he dominated.

With an interestingly strong start, it is almost automatic for anyone to think that this Ukrainian chess sensation would become a good world champion someday. The year 2002 proved to be the time when all Ponomariov's career goals would come true. At the final round of the Knock-Out World Championship tournament of FIDE, he outplayed Ivanchuk for the world chess championship. The feat was so amazing that he became the youngest ever chess champion of the word at barely 18 years of age.

Ponomariov proved to the whole world that he is indeed a tough force to reckon with in chess. He did not allow his youth and under-experience to get in his quest to become a world chess champion. Many have tried to do what Ponomariov has done but to know avail most of them failed. He once held his championship from 2002 to 2004. His championship streak ended when Uzbek chess grandmaster Rustam Kasimdzhanov bagged the title in 2004.