In the final game, Ponomariov did not play it safe. Instead, he sacrificed a pawn in the opening and launched a strong attack. In the final position, Ivanchuk was clearly lost or losing, and so took a draw since Ponomariov only needed a draw to win the world championship.

Ruslan Ponomariov

This may mark the beginning of a new era in chess. Ruslan Ponomariov was born on 11 October 1983 and thus is 18 years old. He first came to the notice of the chess world by becoming the youngest chess grandmaster in history, much younger than Bobby Fischer was when he first became a grandmaster.

In recent years, the top levels of world chess have been dominated by Kasparov, Kramnik and Anand. Ruslan Ponomariov is much younger than they are and it could be that Ruslan Ponomariov will be the world chess champion for many years to come.

It is also to be noted that the Woman's World Championship was contested by a 17-year-old Russian girl, Alexandra Kosteniuk, although she lost in the finals. This seems to be the beginning of a new era in chess, where new young players are taking over at the top.

Here are all the games from the Ponomariov - Ivanchuk match.

Sam Sloan

An Empty Chess Board

[Event "FIDE WCh KO Final"]
[Site "Moscow RUS"]
[Date "2002.01.16"]
[Round "01"]
[White "Ponomariov,R"]
[Black "Ivanchuk,V"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C11"]
[WhiteElo "2727"]
[BlackElo "2717"]

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 dxe4 5.Nxe4 Be7 6.Bxf6 Bxf6
7.Nf3 O-O 8.Qd2 Be7 9.O-O-O Qd5 10.Nc3 Qa5 11.a3 Nd7 12.Kb1
Qb6 13.Qe3 Nf6 14.Ne5 Rd8 15.Bc4 Bd7 16.Bb3 Be8 17.Rhe1 Bf8
18.g4 Nd5 19.Qf3 c6 20.Ne4 Qc7 21.c4 Ne7 22.Ng5 Nc8 23.c5 1-0

An Empty Chess Board

[Event "FIDE WCh KO Final"]
[Site "Moscow RUS"]
[Date "2002.01.17"]
[Round "02"]
[White "Ivanchuk,V"]
[Black "Ponomariov,R"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D20"]
[WhiteElo "2717"]
[BlackElo "2727"]

1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.e4 Nf6 4.e5 Nd5 5.Bxc4 Nb6 6.Bd3 Nc6 7.Ne2
Bg4 8.f3 Be6 9.Nbc3 Bc4 10.Bxc4 Nxc4 11.O-O e6 12.a3 Qd7
13.Kh1 Be7 14.Qb3 Nb6 15.Be3 O-O 16.Rac1 a5 17.Rfd1 a4 18.Qc2
Rfd8 19.Nf4 Ra5 20.Qe4 g6 21.Qc2 Qe8 22.Qe2 Rd7 23.Rc2 Nd5
24.Ncxd5 exd5 25.Rdc1 f6 26.Nd3 fxe5 27.dxe5 d4 28.Bh6 g5
29.Rxc6 bxc6 30.Rxc6 Bd6 31.f4 Rf7 32.Rc1 Rxf4 33.Nxf4 Rxe5
34.Qc4+ Qf7 35.Nd3 Rf5 36.Qxf7+ Kxf7 37.h4 gxh4 38.Kg1 Ke6
39.Rc4 h3 40.gxh3 Kd5 41.Rxa4 Ke4 42.Nf2+ Kf3 43.Rxd4 Bc5
44.Rd2 Rf6 45.Bg5 Rg6 46.Kf1 Rxg5 47.Rd3+ Kf4 48.Rc3 Bb6 49.b4
Rd5 50.Rd3 Rf5 51.Nd1 c5 52.Nc3 cxb4 53.axb4 Ke5+ 54.Ke1 Rf4
55.Rd5+ Ke6 56.Rb5 Bc7 57.Nd5 Re4+ 58.Kf2 Bd6 1/2-1/2

An Empty Chess Board

[Event "FIDE WCh KO Final"]
[Site "Moscow RUS"]
[Date "2002.01.18"]
[Round "03"]
[White "Ponomariov,R"]
[Black "Ivanchuk,V"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B47"]
[WhiteElo "2727"]
[BlackElo "2717"]

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nc6 5.Nc3 Qc7 6.g3 a6 7.Bg2
d6 8.O-O Bd7 9.Nxc6 Bxc6 10.Re1 Be7 11.Qg4 h5 12.Qe2 h4 13.a4
hxg3 14.hxg3 Rc8 15.a5 Kf8 16.Be3 Nf6 17.Bb6 Qb8 18.Bf3 Nd7
19.Bd4 Bf6 20.Bxf6 gxf6 21.Bg2 Ne5 22.f4 Qa7+ 23.Kf1 Ng6
24.Qf2 Qxf2+ 25.Kxf2 Rh5 26.Rh1 Rc5 27.Rh7 Ke7 28.Bf1 Nf8
29.Rh8 Bb5 30.Bd3 Bxd3 31.cxd3 Nd7 32.Rxc8 Rxc8 33.d4 Rc4
34.Ra4 Rxa4 35.Nxa4 f5 36.exf5 exf5 37.Nc3 Nf6 38.d5 Nd7 39.b4
Nf6 40.Ke3 Kd7 41.Kd4 Nh5 42.Ne2 Nf6 43.Kc4 Ne4 44.b5 axb5+
45.Kxb5 Kc7 46.Kc4 Kb8 47.Kb4 1/2-1/2

An Empty Chess Board

[Event "FIDE WCh KO Final"]
[Site "Moscow RUS"]
[Date "2002.01.19"]
[Round "04"]
[White "Ivanchuk,V"]
[Black "Ponomariov,R"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D20"]
[WhiteElo "2717"]
[BlackElo "2727"]

1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.e4 Nf6 4.e5 Nd5 5.Bxc4 Nb6 6.Bb3 Nc6 7.Ne2
Bf5 8.Nbc3 e6 9.O-O Qd7 10.Be3 O-O-O 11.Qc1 Nb4 12.Rd1 Kb8
13.Nf4 c6 14.Qd2 h5 15.Qe2 h4 16.Rac1 Be7 17.a3 N4d5 18.Nd3 f6
19.Bd2 Bxd3 20.Qxd3 f5 21.Ne2 g5 22.Bc2 g4 23.b4 Rdf8 24.Rf1
Qd8 25.f4 gxf3 26.gxf3 Rfg8+ 27.Kh1 h3 28.f4 Rg2 29.Rf3 Qg8
30.Rg3 Rxg3 31.hxg3 h2 32.Rf1 Qg4 33.Rf2 Qh5 34.Bb3 Nc7 35.Qf3
Qh3 36.Rg2 Nbd5 37.Qf2 Nb5 38.Bxd5 cxd5 39.a4 Na3 40.Rxh2
Qxh2+ 41.Qxh2 Rxh2+ 42.Kxh2 Nc4 43.Bc3 Kc7 44.Kh3 b5 45.axb5
Kb6 46.Be1 Ne3 47.Bd2 Nc4 48.Be1 Ne3 49.Bd2 Nc4 50.Be1 Ne3
1/2-1/2

Final Position in Game 5. Black resigns because of the threat of Be6 followed by mate.

[Event "FIDE WCh KO Final"]
[Site "Moscow RUS"]
[Date "2002.01.21"]
[Round "05"]
[White "Ponomariov,R"]
[Black "Ivanchuk,V"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C88"]
[WhiteElo "2727"]
[BlackElo "2717"]

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.O-O Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3
O-O 8.h3 Bb7 9.d3 d6 10.a3 Nb8 11.Nbd2 Nbd7 12.Nf1 Re8 13.Ng3
c6 14.Nh2 d5 15.Qf3 g6 16.Ba2 Bf8 17.Bg5 h6 18.Bd2 Bg7 19.Ng4
Nxg4 20.hxg4 Nc5 21.Rad1 Rc8 22.Nf1 Ne6 23.Qg3 Kh7 24.Nh2 f6
25.Nf3 c5 26.Qh2 Nd4 27.Nxd4 cxd4 28.c3 dxc3 29.bxc3 dxe4
30.dxe4 Qe7 31.a4 bxa4 32.Qh3 Red8 33.Qf3 Rc7 34.Bc1 Rcd7
35.Bb1 Qe6 36.Rxd7 Rxd7 37.Bc2 Bc6 38.Rd1 Qa2 39.Rxd7 Bxd7
40.Qd1 Bb5 41.Be3 Qc4 42.Kh2 Bc6 43.Qa1 Bf8 44.Bb1 a3 45.f3
Qb3 46.Qa2 Ba4 47.Kg3 Kg7 48.Qd2 g5 49.Ba2 Qb7 50.Qd3 Be8
51.Qd5 Qxd5 52.exd5 a5 53.c4 Bb4 54.c5 Kf8 55.Kf2 Bb5 56.c6
Ke7 57.Ba7 Kd8 58.Bb6+ Kc8 59.Ke3 a4 60.Ke4 Be2 61.Kf5 e4
62.Ke6 exf3 63.d6 Bxd6 64.Kxd6 1-0

An Empty Chess Board

[Event "FIDE WCh KO Final"]
[Site "Moscow RUS"]
[Date "2002.01.22"]
[Round "06"]
[White "Ivanchuk,V"]
[Black "Ponomariov,R"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C42"]
[WhiteElo "2717"]
[BlackElo "2727"]

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.d4 d5 6.Bd3 Nc6 7.O-O
Be7 8.c4 Nb4 9.Be2 O-O 10.Nc3 Be6 11.Ne5 f6 12.Nf3 Kh8 13.h3
f5 14.a3 Nc6 15.Nxd5 Bxd5 16.cxd5 Qxd5 17.Qa4 Bf6 18.Rd1 Rad8
19.Be3 f4 20.Bxf4 Nxd4 21.Nxd4 Bxd4 22.Be3 c5 23.Bxd4 cxd4
24.f3 d3 25.Qxe4 Qxe4 26.fxe4 dxe2 27.Rd5 1/2-1/2

Final Position in Game 7. White is winning but took a draw because this gave him the World Chess Championship.

[Event "FIDE WCh KO Final"]
[Site "Moscow RUS"]
[Date "2002.01.23"]
[Round "07"]
[White "Ponomariov,R"]
[Black "Ivanchuk,V"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B04"]
[WhiteElo "2727"]
[BlackElo "2717"]

1.e4 Nf6 2.e5 Nd5 3.d4 d6 4.Nf3 Nc6 5.c4 Nb6 6.e6 fxe6 7.Nc3
g6 8.Be3 Bg7 9.h4 O-O 10.h5 e5 11.d5 Nd4 12.Nxd4 exd4 13.Bxd4
g5 14.Bxg7 Kxg7 15.h6+ Kg8 16.Qd2 e5 17.Rh5 g4 18.Qg5+ Qxg5
19.Rxg5+ Kh8 20.Rg7 Rf6 21.Rxc7 Rxh6 22.b4 1/2-1/2

• Ukrainian Chess News
• Ruslan Ponomariov is the new World Chess Champion
• Linares threatens million dollar lawsuit against Ponomariov
• FIDE wages WAR on Wijk aan Zee
• Woman's World Champion defeats World Chess Champion in a match
• Time Magazine Article on FIDE Chess
• Report on the World Chess Olympiad in Istanbul
• Why We Can't Leave FIDE
• Steve Brandwein, Professional Chess Hustler
• Why Kramnik Can't Get No Respect as World Chess Champion
• Protest to US Chess Championship
• Jennifer Shahade Fabulous Result in US Chess Championship
• The Unknown Girl Chessplayer is Unmasked!
• Alexandra Kosteniuk is the new Anna Kournikova of chess
• Frank Niro is the new Executive Director of the United States Chess Federation
• World Chess Champion Bobby Fischer Interviewed over the Radio
• Report on the World Chess Olympiad in Istanbul
• Hikaru Nakamura makes master at 10 years, 2 months