It is now well known that officially India’s Gukesh Dommaraju is the 18th and youngest chess world champion in the history of the game which dates back to before 1900. But after his official coronation, there have been some messages on social media. There is a small disclaimer to add to this record. That star comes in the name of Ukrainian Grandmaster Ruslan Ponomaryov.
Chess journalist and photographer David Lada posted on Friday: Don’t forget that Ponomaryov was 18 years, 3 months and 12 days old when he became world champion. It’s not his fault that the chess world was such a mess at the time.” Peter Hein Nielsen, coach for both Vishy Anand and Magnus Carlsen, posted a picture on X of a truck with the text “Asterisk Delivery” with the caption: “The FIDE van arrived at Ponomariov’s house today.”
According to Chess.com, the correct way to describe Gukesh’s achievement would be: “The youngest universally recognized champion in chess history. Ponomaryov won a separate FIDE world title in a knockout tournament at a slightly younger age in 2002, but not by beating the reigning champion in a match.”
Let’s not forget that @ponomaryov He became the world champion at the age of 18 years 3 months 12 days. It was not his fault that the chess world was such a mess at the time. pic.twitter.com/C1gYRrGNAh
— David Lada ♞ (@davidllada) December 13, 2024
Ponomaryov was a genius, and in 1997 he became the youngest grandmaster in history at the age of 14 years and 17 days. This record was later broken by Bu Xiangzhi (13 years, 10 months, 13 days) in 1999 and was followed by Sergey Karjakin who won his GM title at 12 years, 7 months, and held the record for nearly two decades. In 2002, Ponomaryov actually became the FIDE World Champion but at the time, the chess world was divided. He won the title via a 128-player knockout tournament, in which the “classic” world champion did not play at the time (Vladimir Kramnik).
After a breakaway from 1993 involving Garry Kasparov, the reigning world champion, until 2006 there were two world champions: one “classical” world champion and the other, the FIDE world champion. In fact, the first of Anand’s five world titles came in the latter category in 2000.
So in the chronology that makes Gukesh the 18th World Champion, Ponomaryov, along with Alexander Khalifman, Rustam Kasimdzhanov and Veselin Topalov, are not considered as they won the FIDE World Champion title during that period. Officially, Gukesh is actually the youngest undisputed world champion.
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