Ruslan Ponomariov is a Ukrainian chess grandmaster, known as the Chess World Champion from 2002 to 2004. Born on October 11, 1983, in Ukraine, he learned to play chess at the age of six and quickly showed outstanding skills and aptitude for the game. Ponomariov achieved the rank of grandmaster in 1998, becoming the youngest person to achieve this status.
Ponomariov showed great strength in competitive chess as early as 1994 when he won the European Under-12 Championship, and in 1996, when he came first in the U14 section of the World Youth Chess Championships. He also won Ukrainian Championship in 2004 and in 2009 Ponomariov won the Fifth World Chess Championship in Israel. The biggest victory of his career came at the FIDE World Chess Championship 2002, where he was crowned world champion at the age of 18, becoming the youngest player ever to win this title.
He has represented Ukraine in eight Chess Olympiads (2000-2018), winning numerous individual and team medals including four gold (team) and one gold (individual). He also participated and won titles in a number of other prestigious chess competitions around the world.
Ponomariov has been in the top 10 players in the world for several periods of his career. His highest ranking to date is seventh position in October 2003. He has also worked with some famous trainers including Ukrainian Grandmaster Viktor Moskalenko and Spanish Grandmaster Francisco Vallejo Pons.