FIDE World Chess Championship 2002 FIDE World Chess Championship 2002 The FIDE World Chess Championship 2002 was held in Moscow, Russia. The first six rounds were played between 27 November and 14 December 2001, and the final match started on 16 January and ended on 23 January 2002. The Ukrainian Grandmaster Ruslan Ponomariov, aged 18, won the championship and became the youngest FIDE World Champion. At the time of this championship, the World title was split. The Classical World Champion, Vladimir Kramnik, did not participate, as well as the previous Classical Champion and world's highest-rated player, Garry Kasparov. However, all other strongest players of the
World Chess Championship 1969 Candidates Matches to challenge Petrosian for the World Championship, which he did successfully. (Spassky had unsuccessfully challenged Petrosian in 1966.) Larsen and Tal contested a third place playoff in the Dutch town of Eersel in March 1969, which Larsen won 5½–2½. The match was played as best of 24 games. If it ended 12-12, Petrosian, the title holder, would retain the Championship. Spassky won. World Chess Championship 1969 The 1969 World Chess Championship was played between Tigran Petrosian and Boris Spassky in Moscow from April 14 to June 17, 1969. Spassky won. The 1967 Interzonal Tournament was played in Sousse,