Ruslan Ponomarev
Ruslan Ponomarev: The Quiet Genius and the Persistence of the Ukrainian School Ruslan Olegovich Ponomarev (born 1983) is not a story of grand gestures, but of exceptional inner strength. He became the youngest FIDE World Champion at 18, but his true greatness lies in his quiet, pragmatic dedication to the game and his native Ukraine, which he has represented for over two decades. The prodigy from Horlivka Ruslan was born in Horlivka, and his chess career was phenomenal, but he was not a typical "star" teenager. His talent quickly turned into a record : at 14 years and 17 days he became the youngest grandmaster in the world. Behind this dry fact stood hours of dedicated work, often spent alone, concentrating on filigree technique. Even at a young age, he was marked not by a feverish attack, but by a mature, engineering reliability - a quality rare for a teenager. ...