Ruslan Ponomariov is a Chess Grandmaster with over a 2500 Elo rating from FIDE, making him one of the best Ukrainian Chess players.
Last Updated: July 19, 2022
Full Name: Ruslan Olegovich Ponomariov
Title: Grandmaster
Born: October 11, 1983
Place of birth: Ukraine
Ratings
World ranking: 115
Rapid: 2673
Blitz: 2605
Classical: 2642
Profiles
Biography
Ruslan Ponomariov is a Ukrainian chess player born in the Horlivka area of Ukraine. Ponomariov started his chess career at age 5, being coached by his father, who was also a chess player. Ponomariov progressed into the first category of chess player at the age of 9. Due to his self-motivation towards his chess career, he from the Horlivka area to Kramatorsk in September 1993. In Kramatorsk, he got to attend A.V momot, a popular chess school in the area.
He met Boris Ponomariov in the chess school, who offered him advanced training in his chess career. This made Ponomariov gain more experience in his chess career and started becoming more popular. This was shown by his outstanding performance in the different junior chess games he participated in at age ten.
The Beginning
Ponomariov started featuring his chess career in the junior category when he was 12. He first participated in the under ten world chess championships in 1994. In this championship, Ponomariov was placed in the third position. However, it wasn’t a bad start for him; it was a better start in the competition.
Ponomariov later secured a chance to compete in the Under 18 European world chess championships held in 1996. He shocked many when he was named the tournament winner at twelve. As if not enough, he confirmed his outstanding performance in chess games when he won the under 18 world championships the following year.
At this point, Ponomariov gained more popularity as a strong upcoming chess player due to his performance which also made him qualify for the grandmaster title. He was awarded the grandmaster title by FIDE in 1998 when aged 14 hence holding the title as the younger chess grandmaster in Ukraine. He joined the Ukraine national chess team and helped the team win the chess Olympiads under 16 categories held in Artek, Ukraine.
In 2002, Ponomariov competed in the FIDE world championships. He was named the tournament champion after beating Vasyl Ivanchuk, who was also from his country of Ukraine. He showed an outstanding performance in the tournament by scoring 4.5 points against the 2.5 score of his opponent in the final game.
Ponomariov was named the champion of the tournament when he was aged 18 hence making him the youngest chess player to become a world champion. He also competed in the Linares tournament held in the same year and finished second after Garry Kasparov, who was announced the winner of the tough tournament. He maintained being a defending champion of the FIDE world championships until 2004 when Rustam Kasimdzhanov was announced the FIDE champion of the tournament.
Ponomariov secured a chance to compete in the 2004 chess Olympiads with the Ukrainian national team in Calvia, Spain. He won a gold medal with the team in the Chess Olympiad tournament.
In 2005, Ponomariov won the gold blitz cup held in Moscow and later won a rapid chess tournament held in Odesa city of Ukraine the same year. In addition, he also participated in the world cup chess tournament and lost in the final game to Levon Aronian, who later became the competition’s winner.
In 2006, Ponomariov competed in the Tal memorial chess tournament held in Moscow, where he shared the first position with other veteran chess players, including Peter Leko and Levon Aronian. He won the Ukraine national chess championships in 2011, making him the 80th Ukrainian champion.
Achievements
Ruslan Ponomariov is a self-motivated chess player who started his chess career at 5. This made him continue with positive progress in his career to become a highly profiled chess player today. He has numerous achievements in his chess career. First, he was the youngest chess player to win a grandmaster title from FIDE in 1998 at 14. He has also won in sever chess tournaments, including the Golden blitz cup, held in Moscow, the rapid tournament, and the Pamplona tournament in Ukraine in 2005.
In addition, he became FIDE champion from 2002 to 2004 after winning and defending his lead in the world FIDE chess championships. He has also announced the winner of the Ukrainian national chess championships to become the 80th Ukrainian champion in 2011.
Did you enjoy reading about Ruslan Ponomariov? If you did, you might also be interested in reading about players like Rey Enigma, Georg Meier, or Hou Yifan.
Sources
- “KC-Conference with Ruslan Ponomariov: Part 1”. Crest book. 2011-02-22. Retrieved 30 September 2014.
- 5th World Youth U16 Chess Olympiad: Artek 1999 OlimpBase
- “Donetsk Zonal 1998”. Ukrainian Chess Online. Archived from the original on 2005-04-04. Retrieved 13 December 2015.
- “Ruslan Ponomariov vs Fritz (Computer) (2005) Puttin’ on the Fritz”.
- “80th Ukrainian Championship – pictorial impressions”. ChessBase.com. 2011-06-23. Retrieved 24 June 2011.