The players

The two finalists qualified in a gruelling knockout tournament (see Timothy Newman's tables) last December. In the end it was the unprecedented Ukraine duo who had survived – Ivanchuk by knocking out the favourite (and reigning world champion) Vishy Anand, Ponomariov by defeating Bareev and Svidler.

Vassily Ivanchuk 32 years old, born March 18, 1969 in Berejiany, Western Ukraine. Ivanchuk is regarded as one of the deepest thinkers in chess. He displays a wide openings repertoire and knowledge of a prodigious number of games. Bue he is at the same time a very daring tactical player and often comes up with highly imaginative new combinational ideas.

Ivanchuk's Elo progress (click to enlarge)

Ruslan Ponomariov 18 years old, born on October 11, 1983 in Gorlovka, Eastern Ukraine. Ponomariov started to play chess at a relatively late age of seven, but his rise to world class was meteoric. At 14 years and 17 days he became the youngest grandmaster in the history of the game, breaking Fischer's record (15 years and 6 months) and those of other child prodigies. The Ponomariov style is basically strategic, so that he was often likened to Karpov. But Ruslan is also very willing to sacrifice material, which is unusual for a positional player. In recent times the most prominent impression is hunger. This kid want to win it all.

Ponomariov's Elo development (click to enlarge)

Reports on the FIDE match

Game 1 – Wed. January 16
The first game of these finals went to the youngster. Ruslan Ponomariov won it in a devastating 23-move crush. Vassily Ivanchuk, playing the French Defense with black, seemed to be suffering from one of his legendary bouts of nerves. That was already visible at the openings ceremony, where he had to be called twice before he appeared on the stage. The game is annotated by GM Rainer Knaak.

Visit our picture gallery of day one here...

Game 2– Thurs. January 17
Vassily Ivanchuk came out fighting, and in a very interesting and exciting game the experienced GM applied tremendous pressure on his young opponent. Around move 40 Ivanchuk had a clearly winning material advantage, but was very low on time. In this situation the incredible Ponomariov ("Supermario") launched an attack on the white king, using his own king as his main assault weapon. The ruse worked, Ivanchuk faltered in his defence against the opponent's audacious play and the game ended in a draw. You can replay and download the game here...

Game 3 – Friday January 18
Ruslan Ponomariov, the youngest ever finalist for a world championship contest, had to solve some serious problems imposed by his fellow Ukrainian Vassily Ivanchuk. Trailing by a game, "Chucky" played imaginatively with the black pieces, switching from his first-game French experiment to his trusted Sicilian. He was the first to deviate on move 15, equalised easily and then looked get the morale-boosting win to draw even with Ponomariov. But with both kings precariously positioned the younger player was able to force the exchange of queens and in fact even play for a win. The encounter ended in a just draw, with Ponomariov maintaining his 2:1 lead. You can replay and download the game here...

Game 4 – Saturday January 19
For the public it was an exciting game (though Ponomariov later criticised it for "low quality"). Playing with the black pieces, the 18-year-old castled queenside and threw everything he had at the white king. The spectators discussing the game live on the Fritz7 server certainly expected a win for Ponomariov, but Ivanchuk defended cold-bloodedly and won a pawn. For a while he pressed for a win, but on move 50 the game ended in a draw by repetition. You can replay and download the game here...

Sunday January 20 was a free day.

Game 5 – Monday January 21
A truly tragic game for Vassily Ivanchuk. He played bravely and well, with the black pieces. He equalised, got an advantage and then a clearly winning position. But once again he was low on time, and then came a blunder which threw away the victory. But he still tried, got into deeper trouble and finally was sucked into a mating net. The game has been extensively annotated by GM Rainer Knaak, who writes: "While Ponomariov earned the draw in game two with a powerful display of defensive skills, in this case his win was extremely lucky. The dubious time controls introduced by FIDE simply prevented Ivanchuk from reaping the fruit of a well-played game. A great pity, also for the match, which is now probably decided." You can download it or replay it on our Javascript board (click the notation to jump to any position). You will find the game here.

Game 6 – Tuesday January 21
Again an exciting encounter, with Ivanchuk facing Ponomariov's Petroff defence and getting into a spot of trouble. But at the critical moment the younger man played a move that most onlookers thought was a blunder: 24...d3! But it turned out that this was very deep match strategy by Ponomariov, who put Ivanchuk in the spot of trying to win a dangerous endgame, or going for a draw and practically resigning the match. After a few moves a disheartened Chucky took the second option. Now he faces the daunting task of winning both the remaining games just to force a tie-break. As usual today's game was followed and discussed by a large audience on the Fritz7 server. You can replay the moves (with snippets of the informal analysis by the visitors during the game) on our Javascript board here.

Eugeny Atarov reports from Moscow: "Vassilly Ivanchuk entered the hall wearing a modest sweater. He was very active and excited, he smiled a lot. When he appeared on the stage he sat down at a small table and started a discussion with the arbiters, unwilling to be checked by a metal detector. After the game started a number of theory moves were played at machine gun speed. Then he started posing for the photographers! A child in the audience asked: "Can I take a picture of you?" - "Okay", said Vassily and moved away from the table. Three minutes passed, then five... Spectators started to get nervous, and from a hall shouts were heard "Paparazzi, get out!". The arbiters were looking at the troubled spectators not understanding what was happening, and Ponomariov during all this time didn't change his posture. At last the, photographers left the auditorium. Vasily sat for a few more minutes deep in thought, and the game continued at last ...".

Game 7 – Wednesday January 22
It was a short, anticlimactic game. Ruslan Ponomariov needed just half a point to win the championship finals, Vassily Ivanchuk desperately needed to win with the black pieces in order to stay in contention.

His attempt consisted in a somewhat feeble Aljechin Defence. But the 18-year-old was not to be fazed by an opening last used by Fischer in a world championship match. In fact after twenty moves it was only Ponomariov who had winning chances. But instead of forcing the issue he pragmatically accepted a draw to clinch the title. Ruslan Ponomariov is by far the youngest winner of a world championship title in the history of the game.

The new FIDE world champion: Ruslan Ponomariov

Game 1 Game 2 Game 3 Game 4 Game 5 Game 6 Game 7 Game 8

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Total Ivanchuk 0 1/2 1/2 1/2  0  1/2 1/2   2.5 Ponomariov 1 1/2 1/2 1/2  1 1/2 1/2   4.5