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The first teenager to take the chess world off guard, Ruslan Ponomariov elevated himself to the stature of a World Chess Champion in the year 2002. He emerged as the epitome of determination and perseverance for the youth and aspiring chess professionals. His achievements at the age of 18 have reconfirmed the fact that its all about success depends not on how experienced you are but also how much hard work you can put in and how talented you are.
Born in the year 1983 on 11th October in Horlivka, Ukraine, Ruslan Ponomariov started playing chess when he was just a kid. He was 10 when he acquired the 3rd position in the World Under-12 Championship. He was just a boy of 12 when he won the European Under-18 Championship. He became Grandmaster at the age of 14 and people started knowing him for his talent and chess skills. This was the first time that a young boy of his age won the GM title and it was a real surprise for the chess world. He was the youngest GM titleholder for some years from then. Ponomariov is known for his style of playing which strongly resembles Ruy Lopez and Sicilian Defence styles. Critics and audience compare him and his style to that of Karpov’s and Ruslan takes it as a real honor to be compared to such a great personality. He, in fact, dresses up like Karpov to take pride in what people say.
Being the youngest FIDE star doesn’t mean that he will be spared where controversies are concerned. It was on his 20th birthday that Ponomariov was disqualified from the European Team Championship, which was held in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. Ponomariov was playing it against GM Evgenij Agrest from Sweden. The reason was his mobile phone, which started ringing during the first round of the tournament, and thus he was penalized under the FIDE law and was terminated from the tournament.
Ponomariov has played numerable tournaments throughout the world and also in his country. His win at the Donetsk Zonal in the year 1998, at the European Club Cup and Torshavn in the year 2000 have elevated him to a remarkable position in the chess world.
He also won the Chess Olympiad held in Istanbul and Governor's Cup held in Kramatorsk in the year 2001. Ruslan won the FIDE World Chess Championship in the year 2002 against Vassily Ivanchuk.
World Chess Championship:
The FIDE World Chess Championship 2002 was held in Moscow. The format of the tournament was 128-player knockout where the contestants were paired for them to play the mini matches with each other. The winner was to be promoted to the next round and the loser was detained. In case of a tie, the players were supposed to play rapid games followed by 2 blitz games to decide the winner.
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