Many people think D Gukesh is the youngest chess world champion, but that’s not entirely true. Let’s break it down: D Gukesh is the youngest undisputed FIDE world champion.
What does “undisputed” mean? Well, from 1993 to 2006, the chess world was a bit confusing. During this time, there were two world champions. One was recognized by FIDE, and the other was announced by a group that left FIDE. This happened when Gary Kasparov, a famous chess player, split from FIDE to start his own organization, the Professional Chess Association.
David Levy, a well-known chess player and author, explained that since 1993, there were two titles: one was “real” and the other “phoney.” Kasparov defended his title against the best players, while FIDE held its own championship, but it didn’t always feature the strongest players.
In 2002, Ruslan Ponomariov from Ukraine won a tournament organized by FIDE when he was just 18. That made him the FIDE world champion, but because there were two champions at the time, his title wasn’t recognized as “the real one.” Gukesh, on the other hand, became the world champion at 18 years and six months, making him officially the youngest undisputed champion.
So, where is Ponomariov now? He still plays chess and competes in high-level tournaments. He was once ranked in the top 20 players in the world until the early 2010s, and he even streams chess games online today.
The confusion about the two titles ended in 2006 when Vladimir Kramnik, the classical champion, and Veselin Topalov, the FIDE champion, played against each other to create one undisputed world champion.
So, is Gukesh the youngest world champion? Yes, officially, he is, since Ponomariov’s title was not undisputed.
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