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Quickly after becoming the president of FIDE, Ilyumzhinov proposed a World Championship reunification tournament with as many as 100 players participating. The contest would be an elimination event composed of short matches where Kasparov and the winner of Karpov-Kamsky would enter in the semi-final round. The tournament should take place in late 1996 or early 1997.
The advantages of this format were that it avoided a long cycle. The whole tournament could be completed in one month at one venue, so there would be no scheduling problems which affected some of the previous World Championship cycles. Also more players (up to 128) could be included in the championship. And the most important reason for changing the old format (3 year cycle) for the new - money! After the 1993 split, FIDE had serious problems with finding sponsors for their Candidates and World Championship matches. Even Kasparov, who was considered as the "true" World Champion, needed 5 years to find sponsors for just one match. So it was much easier (and cheapper) for FIDE to organize just one tournament, than to finance the whole 3 year cycle. Most subsequent FIDE World Championships were financed personally by Ilyumzhinov. Most players and chess commentators were against this format, pointing out that short matches (only 2 games in the earlier rounds) left too much to chance - the stronger player could blunder a game, and it would be difficult to recover from a bad start. Also the rapid, blitz and later even armageddon playoffs were also seen to be left too much to chance - strength in speed chess is not the same as strength in chess with normal time controls. And of course there was an argument that a 110 years old tradition where you can only become the new champion by defeating the old champion in a match, should be preserved. Since it's difficult to preserve the tradition if you don't have enough money, FIDE went through with the new format anyway. Kasparov refused to play under this conditions and declined his invitation. The format was then modified and Karpov (reigning FIDE World Champion) was seeded directly into the final. 1997-98 FIDE World Championship - preliminary tournament Prominent non-participants: All other top players were present (all top 35 players except above three). Tournament conditions:
Tournament  Download games Only rounds 5, 6 and 7 are shown here. See the whole pairing tree here. After 3 weeks of playing, Anand (the highest seed after Kramnik withdrew) won the tournament. But only 3 days later he had to face Karpov who was exempt from all this dog-fighting. 1998 FIDE World Championship: Anatoly Yevgenyevich Karpov vs. Viswanathan Anand  Anatoly Yevgenyevich Karpov the reigning Champion. In the late 1990's Karpov's strength slowly but steadily decreased. Also with his several disputes with FIDE (over the World Championship system) he became increasingly disillusioned with chess, limiting his play to mostly exhibition events. He also revamped his playing style to specialize for blitz chess. Nevertheless, in 1998 he was still a very formidable opponent (with more experience in World Championship match play than anyone else in the history). Afterall he was still ranked at number 5 on the world at that time, and mantained in top 10 with a +2700 rating until the end of the century. Viswantahan Anand the challenger. By 1998 Anand has firmly established himself as a player of the highest calibre - he was ranked in top 5 since 1992 (most of the time as #2 or #3). He had a very good 1997 year, finishing 1st (with Kramnik) at Dos Hermanas, winning both blindfold and rapid section in Melody Amber tournament, winning Chess Classics in Mainz, finnishing 2nd (behind Kramnik) in Dortmund, 1st in Biel, sharing 1st place (with Ivanchuk) in Belgrade, and winning the above mentioned FIDE knockout tournament in Groningen. The only set back was in Linares where he finished on 6th place. Anand eventually won the Chess Oscar for 1997 (an award which goes to the best player of the year). Match conditions:
FIDE promised that for subsequent World Championships, the reigning Champion would enter the elimination matches in the second round. The Match  Download games Against all odds Anand managed to force the rapid tie-breaks where he lost 2-0. So Karpov retained his FIDE World Championship title. Impact on the future For the next FIDE World Championships, the reigning Champion had absolutely no advantage. He had to qualify for the final like everyone else. Karpov eventually refused to defend his title under such conditions and ceased to be the FIDE World Champion after the end of 1999 championship. Before the 1997-98 FIDE World Championship all participants had to sign a player undertaking which prevented them from playing for world championships titles of other organizations in the following year. While some players considered this clause as only some words on the paper, one man kept his word. This message has been edited. Last edited by: ebutaljib, |
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1999 FIDE World Championship
 In 1999 FIDE decided to held the championship under the same format as in 1998, only that this time the reigning champion (Karpov) didn't have any privileges at all. He should have joined the competition in the 2nd round (like all other high seeds). Karpov fiercely protested against this and refused to participate. He was only willing to play the winner, like he did in 1998. He said that "This is the way it has always been in chess. FIDE is supposed to find a challenger for the champion." Also before the 1998 Championship it was agreed that the winner will held the title for next 2 years. The championship went bye without Karpov, but Karpov continued to claim the title. The matter was eventually settled before the court of arbitration for sports in Lausanne (I believe Karpov got some money for compensation). Prominent non-participants:
Tournament conditions:
Tournament  Download games Only rounds 5, 6 and 7 are shown here. See the whole pairing tree here. The tournament was surprisingly won by Alexander Valeryevich Khalifman who was ranked 44th in the world at the time of the tournament. This of course fueled the opponents of KO tournament format, saying that this proves that KO championships are more of a lotery than the measure of strength. The critics were forced to be silent in 1997 when the highest rated participant (Anand) won the tournament, but this time they could really let it loose. Also the majority of public had a hard time to accept so lowly rated player as anykind of champion, even the FIDE one. If Khalifman heard or read 1% of what was said and written about him, he probably wished he would never win this championship. He was the FIDE World Champion who took the most "beating" from the chess public. I think people were and still are very unfair towards Khalifman. Was he the best player on the world in 1999? No, of course not, but he was at his best when it matered the most - at the World Championship. You can like or dislike the format of the tournament, but Khalifman had to deserve his win like anyone else under any other format. Nobody gave him the win, he had to work for it. And he had to do it against world's top players (minus above mentioned exceptions). Sometimes the outsiders win - in ANY sport. But nobody points fingers at them, saying "Oh, but you're not the real Champion". Why is chess so different??? This message has been edited. Last edited by: ebutaljib, |
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After the PCA folded in 1996, Kasparov was left without the governing body. Based on his reputation and constant dominant performances in world-class tournaments, he was widely recognized as the "true" World Champion. Without organization the World Champion title was his personal property, same as it was 60 and more years ago. Kasparov created a mess which lasted for 15 years and is responsible of pushing the chess world 60 years backwards, but at least he didn't hide behind his title like some of the pre-FIDE champions did. He always seeked to play a World Championship match with the strongest challenger (which we can's exactly say for his succesor).
Remember the old posts about pre-FIDE World Championship matches where I needed to write the whole esay to explain how and why someone became the challenger? Well, here we go again (thats what happens when there is no organization that would govern the World Championship). (Partial) Reconciliation with FIDE and negotiations with Karpov After playing their 1993 World Championship outside of FIDE's jurisdiction, Kasparov and Short were expelled from FIDE and removed from FIDE rating list (meaning that even if they would want to, they couldn't participate in FIDE's 1993-1996 World Championship cycle). After a year has passed, in November 1994, FIDE president Florenco Campomanes and Kasparov signed an agreement to seek reconciliation between FIDE and the PCA. As a sign of good faith Kasparov and Short were reinstated on the FIDE rating list. In December 1994 on 65th FIDE Congress, Campomanes was re-elected as FIDE President with the support of Kasparov "to end the current confusion in world chess". First words about a possible reunification match between Kasparov and Karpov were spoken. However soon the first obstacles appear: Kasparov wants the champion's status, while FIDE (and Karpov) claim that he de facto forfeited the title in 1993 (same as Fischer did in 1974/5). Kasparov's reaction was "The FIDE officials are idiots. They are killing an essential agreement (on the FIDE-PCA unification match) because they don't accept that I am World Champion." In last quarter of 1995 Kasparov defends his title against Anand, and FIDE elects a new president - Kirsan Ilyumzhinov. In January 1996 Ilyumzhinov proposed a World Championship reunification tournament with 100 players participating. The contest would be an elimination event composed of short matches where Kasparov and the winner of Karpov-Kamsky would enter in the semifinal round. The tournament is proposed for December 1996 and January 1997. In June/July 1996 Karpov defended his FIDE title against Kamsky. On September 14th 1996 Karpov and Kasparov signed an agreement to hold a reunification match outside of both FIDE and the PCA (which by that time only existed on paper). A drawn match would be resolved by a series of speed games. For whatever reason the match never happened and by that time Karpov's strength already started to decline. So Kasparov started to look for a challenger elsewhere. Kasparov seeks a challenger After Deep Blue matches and refusal to participate in 1997/98 FIDE Wold Championship, Kasparov started to seek for a challenger in 1998 (afterall almost 2 and a half years passed since his last title defence). During the opening ceremony of traditional Linares tournament in February 1998, organizer Luis Rentero and Kasparov announce creation of the World Chess Council (WCC). This was Kasparov's fourth attempt to create a counterbalance to FIDE, after Grandmasters Association (GMA), the European Chess Union (ECU) and Professional Chess Association (PCA). The WCC was about to met the same faith as all others. Rentero and Kasparov (in the name of WCC) proposed a 10 game challenger match between Viswanathan Anand (world's #2) and Vladimir Kramnik (world's #3) in Cazorla (Spain) beginning on May 20th, 1998. The winner of the Cazorla match would meet Kasparov in October 1998 for an 18 game match played in Seville and Linares, with Kasparov to retain his title if tied. The prize fund for the match with Kasparov would be 1.300.000 USD, which was guaranteed by the Andalusian regional government, according to Rentero, who had procured the funding. Anand immediatelly responded that his contract with FIDE (player's undertaking for 1997/98 FIDE World Championship) prevents him from playing in any such non-FIDE matches for one year. WCC suggested that the relevant clause had little weight and could be settled favorably in court if FIDE took legal action. Anand's reaction was: "I have signed a contract with FIDE, my signature binds me, and I am a man of my word." When it became clear that Anand would not accept to play for the WCC, his place was offered to Alexei Shirov (who also participated in 1997/98 FIDE World Championship, but didn't seemed to be bothered by his contract to FIDE). The justification was Shirov's excellent showing in the Linares tournament, where he was in the running for first place until the last round (fact that Shirov lives and plays for Spain may also had some importance in the eyes of the Spanish sponsors  )Soon the challenger match between Kramnik and Shirov was announced. The loser would receive 200.000 USD, while the winner would go on to face Kasparov (now for 1.900.000 USD). Note that the winner would receive no money in Cazorla, he would be paid after his match against Kasparov, depending on the result (65% of 1.900.000 USD for the winner, 35% for the losser). Shirov becomes the challenger The Shirov-Kramnik challenger match was played from May 24th to June 5th, 1998 in Cazorla, Spain. The match was 'best of 10 games' played on two consecutive days followed by a rest day. If the match would be drawn, there would be a series of rapidplay games to determine the winner.  Download games Shirov won the right to play Kasparov for a prize fund of 1.900.000 USD. The match should start on October 16th, 1998 in Seville, Spain. Kramnik received 100.000 USD, with another 100.000 USD to be paid after the World Championship match. WCC loses its sponsors Rentero was a member of the political party which controlled the Ministry, but some time after the the WCC announcement in February, control of the Ministry passed to the opposition party in exchange for a supporting vote on a key issue in the Andalusian parliament. The new leadership of the Ministry had no desire to sponsor WCC activities. The situation had been known to the other WCC principles since July, but they didn't announce it publicly, since they were hoping to find new sponsors - there were rumors about Kasparov-Shirov match taking place in Los Angeles or somewhere in Catalonia. Billed as a warmup for his forthcoming WCC title match, Kasparov played a friendly six game match against Jan Timman in Prague, Czech Republic, starting September 6th 1998 (the match was sponsored by EuroTel). At the press conference on the eve of the match, Kasparov announced that his WCC title match with Shirov had been cancelled due to lack of sponsorship and funding. New sponsors - New plans Kasparov went on to win the EuroTel match over Timman (4-2), but more significant than the match itself was the appearance of a new potential sponsor. EuroTel Praha was a Czech wireless company owned 51% by SPT Telecom, which was partially owned by TelSource. The chief executive of TelSource was Bessel Kok, a well known business man who was always interested in chess. As chief executive in the 1980's of the telecommunication company SWIFT, Kok had sponsored a series of annual tournaments in Brussels, including GMA World Cup events. Later he had gone on to a position with the GMA, but had a falling out with Kasparov, which effectively put an end to the GMA. In October, Kok announced that EuroTel would sponsor a 3.000.000 USD match between Kasparov and the winner of the 1998 FIDE World Championship in Las Vegas (to be played in December 1998). The proposal foresaw a match in the second half of 1999, between Kasparov as the reigning world champion and the FIDE participant as the challenger. The prize fund would be divided 2/3 to the winner and 1/3 to the loser. In an interview Kasparov announced that "the proposal has great merit" and that he was taking the offer seriously. Asked about his former problems with Kok and the GMA, he replied: "That was long ago. Hopefully, we are both wiser now than we were then." In December, FIDE Secretary Emmanuel Omuku verbally rejected Kok's offer to finance the match between Kasparov and a FIDE champion. The FIDE championship in Las Vegas had been cancelled, reportedly due to contract difficulties with Karpov, so the FIDE decision may have been due more to the lack of a player than to any fundamental opposition to the idea. Some observers suspected that the collapse of the Russian economy in August may have been a factor in FIDE's cancellation of the event. Also the condition about Kasparov being the Champion and the legitimate FIDE champion as only the challenger, probably didn't sit to well either. At about the same time Rentero suffered serious injuries when his car was hit by a truck in Linares. He was hospitalized with serious head and chest injuries, and spent more than three weeks in intensive care. The accident marked a firm and unfortunate end to the WCC, which was fast becoming a footnote in chess history. So by end of 1998 Kasparov was again without any sponsors and organization. The January 1999 FIDE rating list had Kasparov as the number 1 player at 2812, followed by Anand (2784), Kramnik (2751), and Shirov (2726). Kasparov wants Anand Kasparov stopped talking about a match with Shirov and expressed his desire to play a match with Anand. In an interview published on his Web site he was asked, "Under the aegis of what organization?", and replied, "No organization, I don't care about the organization! A title match under the same aegis that covered the match between Capablanca and Alekhine, does anyone remember under which cover they played? Nobody does, at least it does not matter now." He went on to state his view that FIDE had always been subservient to the wishes of the World Champion and of the Soviet Chess Federation. "The time when FIDE was a union of federations is now over. Today FIDE is not an organization, but one man, who finances it." He summarized his position with, "Anand needs to define if he wants to play a real title match with me or not." On February 2nd 1999 Shirov issued the following statement:
Back in 1993 the former World champion Mikhail Botvinnik said that Kasparov would end up as his own owner of the World champion title as it has been the case with Lasker, Capablanca and Alekhine. Today we see that the late patriarch was right - Kasparov has just stated that Anand is the World number two player and should just challenge him for the title without preliminary competition. But has there really been no preliminary competition between 1995 and 1999? I am afraid this is where the main contradiction to Kasparov's statements lies. When I won the match against Kramnik I immediately realised that things were shaky and my match vs. Kasparov was up in the air. However officially it was still announced for October 1998, they were speculating about both Sevilla and Marbella as the location and Rentero repeatedly said in telephone conversations that the prize fund of 2 million dollars for the match was under control. The sad truth became apparent in the end of August when Rentero finally admitted that the signature of Junta Andalucia never existed, that he had all the copies of the contract and he could just eat them rather than pay me the 200.000 USD compensation for cancellation of the match as stated in the contract. The WCC did not stop functioning however and rather cynically offered me to play the match in California for the prize fund of 600.000 USD with 400.000 USD going to the winner and 200.000 USD for the loser and Kasparov accepting that! Well, 200.000 USD guarantee for two matches (I mean that all that I got in Cazorla were the bills) had not been the case for quite a while in World Championships and I naturally refused it as I estimated it too low. I suggested the prize fund of 1.000.000 USD with the distribution 600.000 USD to the winner and 400.000 USD to the loser instead. I should state that the California offer with 600.000 USD prize fund was the only more or less serious offer I've had until now. Later on Kasparov stated in many interviews that I had turned down the one million offer because of the different distribution (650 thousand to the winner and 350 thousand to the loser) and these statements are completely untrue. I have never seen the official one million offer and I already had had enough verbal offers made by Mr. Rentero. I have also tried (and even got the verbal promises again!) to raise the prize money in Catalonia where I live but so far nothing is confirmed. Of course, Kasparov's continuous statements that he wants to play Anand don't improve the situation. I presume that my legitimacy as the World Championship contender is not any lower than Kasparov's legitimacy as the World Champion. And if we follow the historical line and assume that the World championship outside FIDE still exists (although in future the agreement between players and FIDE should be made) then my match against Kasparov should finally be organized. I have won all the matches I played since 1991 with a high score, so I feel ready to beat Kasparov in the match play."
It is not only Shirov who has suffered. My material and moral losses can be compared with his. I spent six months preparing and I would also like to add that in September, I paid for preliminary work on organizing the match in California. This money has been lost. The reality is that nobody wants to organize such a match. Potential sponsors are much more interested in a match between the number 1 and 2 chess players: Kasparov & Anand. Alexei Shirov says that the Spanish province of Catalonia could organize the match, but as far as I know, the Catalonian Minister for Sports has only supported the idea of holding the match there and has not made a single practical move towards organizing it. Enrico Touret, a businessman from Barcelona, expressed interest but I have not received any offers from him for four months. In order to compensate Shirov for his losses in some way, I have recently ceded to him the right to play a commercial match with Judith Polgar in the summer. The match is organized by Bessel Kok, has a prize fund of 200 thousand dollars, and will be held in Prague." In March 1999 Canadian promoter Serge Grimaux proposed a match between Kasparov and Anand, which Kasparov imediatelly accepted:
GM Garry Kasparov Vs. GM Vishy Anand The Ultimate World Chess Championship Following several weeks of discussions which started earlier this year in Madrid Friday, March 12, during a meeting attended by the current World Chess Champion and the highest ranked player after him, it is now official: GM Garry Kasparov has accepted to put at stake the World Champion title he now holds for more then thirteen years and defend it against the ever amazing Vishy Anand. The detailed offer prepared by Serge Grimaux, a Canadian entrepreneur in the field of live entertainment for more then twenty years, currently active in North America as well as in Central Europe, has received full backing of world known Chess mentors respected by the entire Chess community and headed by Mr. Bessel Kok, GM Fridrik Olafson (former FIDE President) and Dr. William Wirth. As Mr. Kasparov stated it: "I have always welcomed Championships as they are the essence of every sport. A World Championship is even more exciting. Meeting with Vishy will certainly provide the kind of chess games which will be followed, like never before, throughout the entire planet." The offer will expire this coming Friday, April 23, 1999, at midnight London time, U.K., but, as stated above, has already received the acceptance of GM Garry Kasparov. Everyone is now waiting for GM Vishy Anand to act similarly. The host city of the Championship will be decided by a committee of Chess organizing experts. The Championship is scheduled to commence in October 1999. The prize fund is comprised of US$3,000,000: US$2,000,000 for the winner and US$1,000,000 for the other party. The match is on ... or not In June 1999, Grimaux issued a press release announcing that Anand had agreed to play a match with Kasparov. At the same time the Candidates for year 2000 were announced, with the next World Championship match in 2001. Imediatelly after accepting the Kasparov match, Anand declined to sign his contract to play at the 1999 FIDE World Championship in Las Vegas, which would have prevented him from playing any non-FIDE match (like it did in 1998). Shirov was of course furious and issued another press release:
Even before my first press release was published, Kasparov had stated that he wanted to play Anand because 'it was impossible to find money for the match Shirov-Kasparov' and that 'the match Shirov-Kasparov was not interesting for sponsors because Anand was much stronger'. Kasparov repeated these statements until finally on 3rd of June this year Anand was rumoured (I can't find a better word since the official announcement is to be made on 10th of July) to sign the contract for their match. Let me refute these statements one by one. First of all, Anand is not anymore stronger than me. Nor is he in comparison with, for example, Kramnik and Morozevich. His last two tournament performances in Monaco and Dos Hermanas were complete failures as he was behind his main rivals. And now, after my relative success in Sarajevo my WCC rating is even higher than Anand's. I don't give much importance to the WCC rating but it's Kasparov who always considers the WCC rating to be more objective than the FIDE rating. Complete contradiction. When last year I collapsed in Dortmund, Kasparov was quick to say that my performance diminished sponsors' interest for the match. What has changed until now when Anand shared the last place in Dos Hermanas? Strange game. A few words about Anand's legitimacy. Everybody knows that last year Anand refused to play the candidate's match vs. Kramnik, let me call it 'semifinal'. And now when I replaced him in the semifinal and qualified for the final, he goes to take my place apparently without any conscience problems! As if believing that it's not his problem that I don't have sponsors for the match and the people who want to make Kasparov-Anand match don't recognize my legitimacy. And the absence of sponsors is not the true case at all. Now it's 100% clear to me that if Kasparov had always recognized me as his only legitimate opponent for the World Championship match, it would have been possible to make it. And he revealed himself when at the end of May he publicly stated that if Anand refused then he would play against me. So, it was definitely not a money problem that Kasparov preferred to play Anand instead of me. And the real reasons one will never know. I could only add that in March, during the Linares tournament Kasparov refused to have a telephone conversation with the Catalan manager Enric Turet who was working hard trying to make my match against Kasparov in Barcelona and Terrasa. And shortly after that (on March 12, I believe) Kasparov accepted the offer of Mr. Serge Grimaux, the promoter of Kasparov-Anand match, it remained just to wait for Anand's answer. And since the answer could come at any time, any organization that was interested in my match against Kasparov (apart from Mr.Turet I was also contacted by people in Poland, England and USA) could find it useless to go on working on it. My last and real chance to play against Kasparov would have been Anand's negative responce to Mr. Grimaux's offer. But this was too much a hope as in our world a lot of people strive for money and more money, so Anand proved to be no exception by taking what doesn't belong to him. I consider both Anand and Kasparov guilty for depriving me of the World Championship match and that this century will end with their inlegitimate 'World Championship'." In August 1999 FIDE World Championship in Las vegas was won by Alexander Khalifman. Ilyumzhinov put some more oil on the fire by his speech at the closing ceremony, saying: "I want to congratulate Alexander Khalifman, the 14th World Chess Champion. I want to invite him to play again next year to defend his title. From now on, the World Champion must defend his title on the chessboard, not in press conferences [refering to Kasparov] or in the courts [refering to Karpov]." Few weeks after, Anand's manager announced that Kasparov-Anand match is cancelled due to lack of sponsors who pulled out in the last minute. Kasparov's manager responded that Anand's manager jumped the conclusion and that now the match is really in danger. There were accusation back and forth who said what, but there really seemed to be no money for the match as Serge Grimaux later confirmed with following press release:
GM G.Kasparov vs. GM V.Anand Postponed to the Early Part of 2000 Friday, October 1st, 1999 Serge Grimaux After many months of negotiations with several major American corporations in the field of information technology, which had given the Committee and the event promoter, Serge Grimaux, strong indications to support the Ultimate World Chess Championship, unfortunately no agreement was able to be reached. Consequently contractual and logistic deadlines cannot be met and the Committee will review with the players a possible date for the event in the early part of 2000. In the meantime a major European city has offered to host the match, providing all the necessary infrastructure in terms of logistic and venue. Negotiations are currently taking place with alternative sponsors. New sponsors - again In March 2000, the attention of the chess world shifted to London when The Times reported that a 16 game, 2.000.000 USD World Championship match between Garry Kasparov and Viswanathan Anand was planned for October. The venue was first reported as Bahrain, but later changed to London. The report was confirmed by the Mind Sports Organisation (MSO), a company founded by Raymond Keene, David Levy, and Tony Buzan. Kasparov was reported to have agreed to the terms. MSO later announced that Anand had not yet signed a contract and that he had been given until April 21st to do so. Anand was somewhat suspicious because of the past experiences and wanted some guarantees instead of just promises. Anand demanded an advance of 300.000 USD. Keene, emerging as the spokesman for the organizing group considered this unnecessary. Then MSO suddendly disapeared and Braingames Network (BGN) appeared as the organizer, and the deadline was pushed forward to March 21st. Because of his (and Shirov's) past experiences and not receiving any firm guarantees (except words) Anand decided to pass, and eventually signed up for 2000 FIDE World Championship (which then prevented him to play a non-FIDE match anyway). Kramnik becomes the challenger When Anand passed, the offer went to the #3 in the world - Vladimir Kramnik, who ironically lost the 1998 challenger match against Shirov - the thing that angered Shirov even more. And rightly so - Shirov as the winner didn't get anything (either money or title match), while Kramnik as the loser got money and the title match  Kramnik accepted and Kasparov-Kramnik match was announced for October 9th 2000. BGN confirmed the other arrangements and revealed that the prize fund had been raised. Again plans for the future World Championship cycle in 2001 and 2002 were revealed. When being asked about Shirov, Kasparov said: "In 1998, Shirov had the right to play me. In 2000, it's a different situation with a new organization in control." Shirov responded in an open letter with, "I do believe that the Kasparov-Kramnik match can not have anything to do with any kind of World Championship, be it official, historical, brain or whatsoever. I am the legitimate candidate for it since 1998." Shirov mantained his position in the following years (at least until 2006) and refused to accept Kramnik as a World Champion. Five years after Kasparov's last title defence, the much awaited match finally happened. At that time the match was billed as the "Braingames World Championship", but was later retroactively renamed to the "Classical World Championship". 2000 Classical World Championship: Garry Kimovich Kasparov vs. Vladimir Borisovich Kramnik  Players Garry Kimovich Kasparov the reigning Champion. Kasparov continued to show dominance over his contemporaries throughout the 1990's (and beyond). He was continuosly ranked as #1 in the world from 1986 until after his retirement when he was omitted from the rating list due to inactivity. In July 1999 he reached an all-time highest rating of 2851 ELO. One of his most amazing and not often mentioned performances came in May 1998 when he scored 7/8 in a simul (!!!) against the Israeli Olympic team that would few motnhs later end up on 4th place in Olympiad. In late 1998 Kasparov played a 24 games blitz match against Kramnik in Moscow. The match was tied 12-12. Kramnik has always been Kasparov's most difficult opponent. Kasparov aknowledged that before the match and even used it as a justification why Kramnik and not Shirov (who had a terrible head-to-head score against Kasparov). Before their World Championship match the head-to-head score between them at tournament time controls was tied: each won 3 games, with 17 draws (later Kramnik went on to improve this record and ended up with a +1 life-time score against Kasparov - the only one with significant number of games). Before the match Kasparov had run of 7 straight tournament wins. Vladimir Borisovich Kramnik the challenger. As did Karpov and Kasparov before him, he too went through Botvinnik's school of chess. Kramnik first got into spotlight when he was nominated into Russian team for the 1992 Chess Olympiad. As he was young (under 17), unknown and still untitled his selection was very controversial. But Kasparov insisted that he has to be part of the team. The critics were soon silenced when "Kasparov's pupil" went on to win eight games and one draw with no losses. After Olympiad Kramnik soon became a GM (he is one of the few who "jumped over" the IM title and went straight to a GM title). In 1993 he was invited to the Linares tournament for the first time, and finished 5th in a world-class field. He followed it up with a good string of results throughout 1993: 2nd (behind Karpov) in Dortmund, shared 1st (with Short and Anand) in Amsterdam, shared 1st (with Topalov and Anand) in Madrid, 2nd (behind Beliavsky) in Belgrade. Same year he also played in both FIDE and PCA Interzonals, qualifying for Candidates in both of them. In PCA Candidates he was defeated by Kamsky (1st round), and in FIDE Candidates he was defeated by Gelfand (2nd round). Kramnik continued with good performances in 1994 and 1995. In 1995 Dortmund he won his first clear win in a world-class tournament (he would later go on to win the Dortmund tournament many times). During the 1995 PCA World Championship match he was serving as Kasparov's second. On January 1996 rating list he caught "his mentor" Kasparov on 2775 ELO to share the #1 rank (with Karpov just 5 points behind them). After some not so excellent results he soon droped to 3rd and even 4th place, before briefly coming back to #2 and then establishing himself on the #3 position (behind Kasparov and Anand) until the end of the century. Kramnik intended to participate in 1997-98 FIDE World Championship, but withdrew shortly before the tournament start out of protest that Karpov was seeded directly into the final. In 1998 he played a challenger match against Shirov (for the right to play with Kasparov) and lost it. In 1999 FIDE World Championship he reached the quarter-finals before being knocked out by Adams. Match conditions:
The Match  Download games Despite Kramnik's high rating and equal head-to-head score, Kasparov was a clear favourite for the match. But Kramnik played some of his best chess of his life and frustrated Kasparov with the Berlin Defence, which Kasparov just couldn't break through. Kramnik won two games with white (and achived some more promising positions), and drawed all his games with black. Kasparov became the first and so far the only regning World Champion who lost the title without scoring a single win (in 1921 Capablanca was the reigning Champion and Lasker the challenger!) Impact on the future By defeating Kasparov in a match Kramnik inherited the "true" World Champion title and was widely considered as the 14th World Champion. A rematch was expected by whole chess community, but unlike Kasparov, Kramnik didn't exactly seek to play with the worthiest challenger. Because of that and the fact that Kasparov continued to dominate in world-class tournaments, his title soon started to lose it's shine. This message has been edited. Last edited by: ebutaljib, |
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2000 FIDE World Championship
 A couple of weeks after Classical World Championship, FIDE held it's own World Championship. Format was completely the same as in 1999 FIDE World Championship. The reigning champion Alexander Khalifman had absolutely no special privileges. Prominent non-participants:
Tournament conditions:
Tournament  Download games Only rounds 5, 6 and 7 are shown here. See the whole pairing tree here. The defending champion Alexander Khalifman was eliminated in quarterfinals by eventual winner Viswanathan Anand. Despite his almost flawless performance (he needed to go into the tie-breaks only once - against Khalifman), Anand never got the recognition of a World Champion. This message has been edited. Last edited by: ebutaljib, |
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2001-02 FIDE World Championship
 Imediately after the end of the last World Championship, FIDE announced new (shorter) time controls that should be used in all future FIDE events and international tournaments. This caused for wave of dissatisfaction among the players, which pointed out that shortening the time controls negativly influences the quality of play. Also they pointed out that this new FIDE time controls are contradicting FIDE's own rating regulations: For games to count for title applications a six hours session is required at least. This meant that it would not be possible to gain titles in events which would be played under new time controls. FIDE eventually gave in a little (but only a little) and decided that this new time controls will be used in FIDE events (like World Championships), but are only recomended (thus not mandatory) for other tournaments. But not only the new time controls were causing dissatisfaction. Equally controversial was the decision that Continental championships will determine who qualifies for the World Championship. This decision cast aside the tradition of Zonal tournaments which had been in place since 1948 as the first step in determining the players eligible to fight for the World Championship. Although the zones were preserved, they virtually became obsolete. So in 5 years (from 1996-2001) FIDE, under rule of Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, managed to destroy everything that was traditional in chess - World Championship cycle, time controls, Zonal tournaments. Prominent non-participants:
Besides new time controls FIDE also modified the competition system. From now on 128 players participated, meaning that all participants started the competition in 1st round. Participants were seeded according to their rating and then paired so that in the 1st round #1 seed plays the #128 seed, #2 vs. #127 and so on until #64 vs. #65. In 2nd round #1 plays #64, #2 vs. #63, and so on until #32 vs. #33. Same procedure applies for subsequent rounds. If a lower seeded player defeats the higher seed, it automatically gets his seed number. Also the armageddon game was introduced as the final tie-breaker. Like in previous editions, reigning champion Viswanathan Anand had no privileges. Tournament conditions:
Tournament  Download games Only rounds 5, 6 and 7 are shown. See the whole pairing tree here. Ruslan Ponomariov became the youngest (FIDE) World Champion in history, at just 18 years. As all other FIDE World Champions before him, he got little recognition from the public. Besides the usual stuff (that he just won a lotery) he also had to listen about the low quality of his games (because of the shorter time controls). Since the word "lotery" has been mentioned so many times - in his three attempts Anand won the KO tournament twice (in 1997 and 2000) and was once eliminated in the semi-finals (in 2002). This constant performance speaks firmly against the lotery - no person is that lucky. Also constant performances of some other players, like Michael Adams (final, semi-final, semi-final, 4th round, final) speak against it. Impact on the future Eventhough he didn't get the public recognition, Ponomariov was nevertheless the official FIDE World Champion, and was included into the "Prague Agreement" - the most serious attempt to reunite the World Championship. According to agreement he was supposed to play the "reunification semi-final" against Garry Kasparov. However after some back and forth negotiations Ponomariov refused to play under the given conditions. Recently he stated that "Probably I became world champion too early." This message has been edited. Last edited by: ebutaljib, |
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2004 FIDE World Championship
 Background Beginning of 2002 serious attempts to reunite the World Championhip were made. According to the so-called "Prague Agreement" one of the unification matches was supposed to be between world's #1 rated player (Kasparov) and the reigning FIDE World Champion (Ponomariov). However after more than a year of back and forth Ponomariov eventually refused to sign the contract (he was not satisfied that Kasparov was given a free pass into the unification "semi-final", he wanted FIDE time controls instead of classical ones, he demanded a Champions advantage, etc.). Having lost it's own representative in the unification process, FIDE decided to held another KO World Championship, just to find an opponent for Kasparov. Controversies FIDE controversially awarded the tournament to Libya that was trying to establish contact with international community after years of isolation. This decision caused great concerns because Libya had a history of not allowing entry to citizens of Israel or any person with Jewish heritage. With this in mind, FIDE originally announced that a parallel event in Malta would be held alongside the one in Libya to ensure that Israeli players could take part. This parallel event was later cancelled, following a press release from the Libyan authorities that they will pleasantly provide entry visas to all the qualified participants of this Championship. However at the same time Mohammed Gaddafi, chairman of the Libyan Olympic Committee and son of Libyan leader Maummar al-Gaddafi, made a very clear statement which contradicted everything: "We did not and will not invite the Zionist enemy to this championship." Libyan authorities and FIDE claimed that Gaddafi's son was misquoted and that Israeli players will get their entry visas upon arrival. This assurance was never put to the test, because none of the qualified Jewish players took part in the championship. The only player in the final list of participants with an Israeli passport - Vadim Milov, representing Switzerland - never travelled to Libya: He complained that his official invitation to the event had arrived so late (on the day of the opening ceremony, one day before the first game) that it was physically impossible for him to get to Libya with it in time. Milov claims that this constituted a deliberate attempt by FIDE to exclude him. In response, FIDE said that the delay in sending Milov's invitation was due to Milov not sending them his passport details until a deadline had passed, and that even with this delay, Milov could still have arrived in Tripoli in time for his first game, which they had offered to postpone if necessary. Milov took his case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, which found that FIDE "undertook extraordinary efforts to make sure that Claimant [Milov] could participate in the WCC 2004 although such efforts could and should have been made earlier" and ultimately cleared FIDE of any ill-intentioned effort to exclude Milov, concluding "there is no ground for Claimant to claim damages from Respondent [FIDE]." As a result of this controversies many players declined to participate and the final list of participants was the weakest of all World Championships. Prominent non-participants:
There were just 11 from top 25 (only 2 from top 10) players that participated in this event. This caused for another controversy; with claims that any tournament with so many top players missing should not be considered a World Championship at all. Tournament conditions:
Tournament  Download games Only rounds 5, 6 and 7 are shown. See the whole pairing tree here. The event was won by Rustam Kasimdzhanov, at that time ranked #44 on the world. He met the same fate as all other FIDE champions before him - he got no recognition. Impact on the future Kasimdzhanov was supposed to play a match with Kasparov by end of 2004, but the match was delayed and venue changed several times. The whole question of how and when the Kasparov-Kasimdzhanov match would take place was made irrelevant when Kasparov announced his retirement in March 2005. Kasimdzhanov victory in Libya did however earn him a direct entry into the 2005 FIDE World Championship in San Luis, and also gained automatic entry to the Candidates for the 2007 World Championship in Mexico. This message has been edited. Last edited by: ebutaljib, |
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No rematch
After winning against Kasparov, Kramnik was widely considered as the "true" World Champion. Kasparov was still topping the rating list, but Kramnik's performances in this period were also excellent. On July 2001 FIDE rating list, Kramnik became the second person to surpass the 2800 rating mark. Kasparov and chess public expected a rematch, but Kramnik declined, saying that rematches are the thing from the past, and that before the match he and Kasparov signed that the loser won't get a rematch, but will enter the next World Championship cycle. During a press conference after the 2001 Corus tournament, Kasparov said of Kramnik:
New cycle Braingames announced that the 2002 Dortmund event would double as a Braingames candidates tournament:
As usual, this only remained at the paper. Soon after announcement Braingames were bought by Einstein Group who were now in charge of the World Championship match (now to be held in 2003). They kept the "Candidates" system but many top players declined or were unable to participate. Kasparov (#1) was still claiming that Kramnik "owes" him a rematch, and he had some falling out with Dortmund organizers years ago (that's why he never participated in Dortmund tournaments after 1995). Anand (#3) declined because of his contractual obligation to FIDE (player undertaking for 2001/2002 FIDE World Championship). For the same reason Ponomariov (#6) and Ivanchuk (#10) were not there either. Also Grischuk (#12) declined to participate, so the final field was much to be desired (final field of participants featured Christopher Lutz - #35 on the rating list). "Candidates" were played in July 2002. First two from each group advanced to the semifinals. Semifinals and the final were "best of 4 games". In case of ties, rapid games were played.  Download games Peter Leko won the "Candidates" to earn a Classical World Championship match with Kramnik, which should be played by end of 2002. Just some personal opinion: Everybody criticised FIDE championships because not all the top players participated (with exception of 2004 edition, only 2 or 3 top players were missing), because matches were too short, and because it used rapid and blitz play-offs. But this "Candidates" that had all those top players missing (more than any FIDE championship, with exception of 2004), also had very short matches, and also used rapid games to break the ties, did produce the "true" challenger for the "true" World Champion??? Hmmm, I see some double standards here. Soon after the Dortmund "Candidates" Einstein Gruop fell into financial troubles and were eventually unable to organize the Classical World Championship match between Kramnik and Leko. So the match got postponed further. Prague Agreement Beginning of 2002 Yasser Seirawan urged everybody to come to some sort of agreement to reunify the chess world. After some back and forth the main actors sat down and came to the agreement on how to unify the title. On May 6th, 2002 they signed the so-called Prague Agreement. In Prague Agreement both titles were recognized - Kramnik recognized Ponomariov as the FIDE World Champion, and FIDE recognized Kramnik as a Classical World Champion. To unify the title, Kramnik will play a Classical World Championship match against the winner of Dortmund "Candidates" (which Leko later won), Ponomariov will play a FIDE World Championship match against Kasparov (#1 rated player), and the two winners will play for the unified title (which will again be under FIDE's control). According to the plan, the unification process should be completed by end of 2003. However in reality by end of 2003 nothing happenend. Neither of the two "semifinal" matches were played. Kramnik vs. Leko was delayed due to lack of sponsors and was eventually played in last quarter of 2004. FIDE had even more problems with organizing their "semifinal". Ponomariov after back and forth negotiations eventually refused to play under the given terms with Kasparov so FIDE organized a new World Championship in 2004 just to find an opponent for Kasparov. In ill-fated championship in Libya Kasimdzhanov emerged as a winner, but the match with Kasparov never happened. There were no sponsors so the match was delayed several times. Also the potential venues were moved all over the world several times. Partly because of all this frustration, Kasparov decided to retire in March 2005, so the match never happened and the Prague Agreement was proclaimed dead. Even long before Kasparov's retirement the Prague Agreement was shaky and there were back and forth discussions about it. Everybody had a different opinion about it. See here for all the back and forth during the years. There was just too many talking going on to cover it all here, and too litle playing. The situation can be compared to the situation in late 1930's (see 1937 World Championship). In all this mess Kramnik finally managed to organize the match against Leko. 2004 Classical World Championship: Vladimir Borisovich Kramnik vs. Peter Leko  Players Vladimir Borisovich Kramnik the reigning champion. Peter Leko the challenger. Match conditions:
The Match  Download games Leko came as close as you can get to the World Champion title. He went into the last game only needing a draw, but Kramnik was up to the task and managed to win the last game to tie the match, thus retaining the classical title. Impact on the future This was to be the last Classical World Championship. Although the Prague Agreement never materialised, the chess world was nevertheless unified by end of 2006. This message has been edited. Last edited by: ebutaljib, |
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2005 FIDE World Championship
 Background After Kasparov retired and when it was obvious that the Prague Agreement won't materialise, FIDE tried to reunify the title some other way. Since the KO tournaments were out of favour, they tried to set up an 8 player double round robin tournament. Following players were originally invited to the tournament: and 4 top players in the FIDE rating list (average rating of July 2004 and January 2005 rating lists). Those were: Kramnik refused to participate, insisting that the Prague Agreement guarantees him a match with the FIDE World Champion. He was only prepared to play the winner (read here). Kasparov, who retired earlier, also declined his invitation. In my opinion Kasparov would only be willing to come out of retirement (he retired only few months ago) if Kramnik would participate too, meaning that the winner would be undisputed World Champion. Since Kramnik declined to participate, Kasparov saw no point to become only FIDE World Champion and then to wait for a possible reunification match with Kramnik, which may or may not happen. As a substitution for Kramnik and Kasparov, next two from the rating list were called in: * - if a player was inactive in one of the rating lists (July 2004 or January 2005), only the active rating was taken, instead of the average. Players that were inactive on both lists were ineligible. This made Judit Polgar the first (and so far only) woman in history to play for the World Championship. The tournament idea with 8 best players was well received by the public and it was the first FIDE World Championship in a long time that was credible in the eyes of the public. The only thing that left some bad taste in the mouth was Kramnik's non-participation. Also returning back to slower "classical" time controls was met with approval among the players and public alike. Tournament conditions:
The Tournament  Download games Topalov won convincingly. He started with a 6.5/7, one of the most impressive performances in history, before coasting to victory by drawing all his remaining games. Impact on the future World Championship tournament was a success and FIDE decided to repeat the format 2 years later. Top four in San Luis were automatically seeded into the 2007 World Championship. Although people today tend to put Topalov in the same group of other FIDE World Champions (thus not "real" World Champions), he was at that time considered as a legitimate World Champion by great majority of public. Topalov was clearly the best player in that period and was dominating in top tournaments in 2005 and 2006. There was only small minority who considered Kramnik, who was playing unconvincingly and was continuosly slidding down the rating list, as the "true" World Champion. By that time, his only argument was that a title can only be won in a match (it is pretty weak to me, if the competition format instead of performance is the only argument one has - besides it's not like Kramnik didn't have a chance to prove that he is the best. He simply refused to participate). Match between Topalov and Kramnik in the following year (with it's controversies), completely changed people's perception of Topalov and Kramnik as a World Champion in retrospective. Kramnik came out as the hero, and Topalov's public image still suffers from the events that took place in Elista. This message has been edited. Last edited by: ebutaljib, |
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2006 World Championship: Veselin Topalov vs. Vladimir Borisovich Kramnik
 Background Imediatelly after Topalov won the FIDE title, negotiations for a possible unification match with Kramnik have begun. However negotiations failed when the two sides were unable to overcome substantial differences of opinion. At about same time FIDE issued a new rule, which allows any player rated above 2700 to challenge the reigning World Champion in a match, provided that he/she guarantees minimum 1 milion USD prize fund. After negotiations broke down in late 2005, and with Kramnik's refusal to participate in the Candidates for the next World Championhip tournament (announced for 2007), unification was again out of sight. Then in the heat of FIDE's Presidental election campaign (Ilyumzhinov was for the first time facing a serious opposition - Bessel Kok) Ilyumzhinov announced that Topalov and Kramnik have come to an agreement to play the unification match in Elista by the end of 2006. Many doubted if this is for real (it was just too good to be true), or if this is just an empty promise to win the elections. It turned out to be the real deal. Of course they had to iron out some things first (since both of them considered themselves as the Champions). Besides the "ego issues" there was one serious issue (which consequences are still felt today):
Other agreements were logical - noone had the Champion's advantage, the prize money was split equally, etc. Shortly after Topalov vs. Kramnik unification match was agreed, Teimur Radjabov challenged Topalov to a title match too. Topalov agreed to play in case he would be successful in Elista. As Topalov lost, the match never took place. Players Veselin Topalov the FIDE World Champion. Although he was an elite player since long time (already rated #9 on the world in July 1993 and reaching #4 in July 1996) he was always in a shadow of strong-hold names like Kasparov, Karpov, Anand, Kramnik, Ivanchuk. He started his climb on the absolute top in late 2004. From then on his rating only went up. In 2005 Linares he defeated Kasparov in the last round (Kasparov's last competitive game) to tie with him on the first place. Kasparov won on tie-breaks (he had more wins with black). Topalov continued with good performances and by October 2005 already closed the gap to tie Anand on the #2 spot (although retired, Kasparov was still listed on #1 position for the whole year). He completed the first half of 2005 FIDE World Championship with 6.5/7, one of the finest performances of all time. Having basically assured the win, he has drawn all his 2nd-half games. This excellent performance pushed him over the 2800 rating mark on the next (January 2006) rating list - third person to do so after Kasparov and Kramnik. Topalov continued to perform during the 2006 and reached his peak rating of 2813 before the match with Kramnik. Vladimir Borisovich Kramnik the Classical World Champion. After reaching the peak by end of 2001, Kramnik's form only declined (now we know that he had some health problems). Kramnik was still losing very rarely, but he was also winning much less than he used to. This meant that he always made a solid performance, but wasn't able to win tournaments. People also started to call him 'Drawnik' because of that. All in all, his play was not convincing and his rating continuosly decreased through the years, reaching it's low point in April 2006 (his rating was "only" 2729 and was ranked #9 on the world). However his performance started to improve after this (Olympiad, Dortmund) and he jumped to #3 on the world before the match with Topalov. Match conditions:
The Match  Download games The match started as expected, with Topalov playing better chess. In a drawish 1st game Topalov pushed too much and ended up losing. In the second game Topalov unleashed a king-side attack putting Kramnik under heavy pressure. Kramnik eventually cracked under pressure and allowed Topalov a forced mate. However Topalov missed it too and fumbled his position. Despite turning of tides, Topalov still had drawing chances but ended up losing. Despite generally playing better chess, Topalov was now trailing 0-2. In the 3rd game Kramnik reached a better position for the first time, but decided to not take any risk and forced a draw by perpetual. In 4th game Topalov agains pressed hard with white, getting advantageous position, but failed to convert it into a win. Score was 3-1 in favour of Kramnik going into the rest day. During the rest day Topalov's manager Silvio Danailov filed a complaint about Kramnik's repeated visits to the toilet. He noted that the toilets are the only place not under audio or video surveillance, and called the frequency of the breaks "strange, if not suspicious". Danailov suggested that Topalov would abandon the match if the concerns were not addressed. Before the beginning of game 5, the Appeals Committee (Georgios Makropoulos, Jorge Vega, Zurab Azmaiparashvili), determined that, although the frequency of Kramnik's visits to the toilet had been exaggerated, the private bathrooms would be closed and a common toilet opened for both players. Kramnik's manager Carsten Hensel protested, insisting that the original match conditions be adhered to. If not, Kramnik will abandon the match. He also demanded that the Appeals Committee is changed. Since the doors to the toilets remained locked, Kramnik refused to show up for game 5. After an hour passed, Topalov was awarded a win by forfeit and the continuatuion of the match was uncertain. Ilyumzhinov then called all parties to the meeting, trying to save the match. On October 1, 2006, FIDE announced that agreement had been reached that the original bathroom arrangements would be reinstated and that the Appeals Committee had resigned and would be replaced. But the game 5 forfeit stands, and the score is 3-2 in favour of Kramnik. Kramnik replied that he was ready to proceed with the match, but under protest of game 5 forfeit. Before game 6, more than 30 GM's, WGM's, and IM's expressed open support for Kramnik's position. Also the great majority of public was on his side. Not surpisingly, game 6 ended in a dull draw. More interesting was the rest day that followed. Danailov accused Kramnik of cheating with Fritz 9. He presented the statistical data, showing that 87% of Kramnik's moves match with the first choice of Fritz 9. The acusation went on during the whole match (and after it), and Kramnik's public support only grew. While game 7 was drawn, Topalov managed to win games 8 and 9 to take the lead 5-4. However Kramnik imediately stroke back by winning game 10 and having Topalov work hard for a draw in game 11. Game 12 almost logically ended in a draw. This meant that the regular contest was drawn, and 4 rapid tie-breaks will be played. Kramnik was still protesting the game 5 forfeit, and from his point of view the score was 6-5, with one game unplayed. Even before game 11, Kramnik's team issued a press release announcing:
Impact on the future Kramnik came out of the match as a hero and had a huge moral support from the public and other players. Although he signed before the match that he (as the winner) will defend the title in 2007 World Championship, he again started his usual talk how the title can only be won in a match, and how the tournament in Mexico should only decide about his next challenger. With his newly won popularity he practically extorted FIDE to give him a free shot at the title in case he doesn't win in Mexico (or else he wouldn't show up and we would be at square one again). On the other hand Topalov's public image suffered heavelly after Elista. Few months later he challenged Kramnik, based on the rule that any former Champion or +2700 rated player can challenge World Champion to a match. FIDE rejected the challenge on technicality that the money guarantees were from a "wrong" bank. Because Mexico was only 6 months away, there was no time for another challenge with guarantees from the "right" bank. Also FIDE abolished that "+2700 rating" rule afterwards. To compensate, FIDE decided to give Topalov a free pass in the next cycle also. This message has been edited. Last edited by: ebutaljib, |
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Shortly after 2005 FIDE World Championship in San Luis, FIDE announced that the 2007 World Championship will be held under the same format (8 player double round robin tournament).
2005-2007 World Championship cycle consisted of 3 stages:
First four from the 2005 Championship were seeded directly into the 2007 World Championship: The Candidates matches were to feature 16 players and consist of a two round knockout with one player qualifying from each quarter of the draw (4 players in total). One place in the Candidates matches was reserved for former FIDE World Champion Rustam Kasimdzhanov. Five places were then awarded to the top five players by FIDE rating (average of July 2004 and January 2005 ratings) who had not already qualified for the championship. These were: Kasparov remained retired, and Kramnik refused to take part in any qualification process, so the first two reserves completed the list: The remaining ten places in the Candidates matches went to the highest finishers at the 2005 FIDE World Cup who had not otherwise qualified. Many wondered (and criticised) why such old rating lists were used for deciding who qualifies to the Candidates by rating. Decision to use rating list from almost 12 and 18 months ago, went mostly on the expense of Vassily Ivanchuk (2715, 2711) who missed qualification by only 0.5 ELO points, and had a much higher rating on the latest October 2005 list than any of the "rating qualifiers" (except Leko). 2005 World Cup Although nothing prevented the already qualified players from competing in the World Cup, none of them decided to participate (Bacrot and Shirov were not yet fixed, since Kasparov and Kramnik still had time to change their minds). All other players who were't already qualified were there (including unlucky Ivanchuk and Gata Kamsky who came out of retirement in early 2005). World Cup was played under the same format as 1998-2004 FIDE World Championships were played, only that all rounds consisted of a 2-game mini match, and that this time from round 4 onwards players weren't eliminated, but continued to play-off for places 1-16. Tournament conditions:
 Download games See whole pairing tree here. According to regulations, first 10 qualified for the Candidates. Since 3rd placed Bacrot qualified by rating, 11th placed Vladimir Malakhov took the final spot in the Candidates. Among the qualifiers was a 15 year old prodigy Magnus Carlsen who became the youngest person to qualify for the Candidates (breaking Fischer's record - although the cycles are not comparable). Candidates matches The candidates matches were supposed to be held in last quarter of 2006, but they got delayed for unknown reasons (probably due to lack of interest to organize them). In the meantime Topalov lost the unification match against Kramnik, and complications about Topalov's status occured (see previous post). It didn't feel right to exclude the #1 rated player on the world out of the whole cycle. It was speculated whether FIDE should put Topalov into the Candidates or not. Also FIDE proposed that the 16 qualifiers play a round robin tournament instead of matches. Players protested, pointing out that they signed to participate in matches, not tournament. The Candidates were eventually played as originally planed. Match condititons:
 Download games Aronian, Leko, Gelfand and Grischuk qualified for the 2007 World Championship. 2007 World Championship  After winning against Topalov in 2006, Kramnik indicated that he is not happy with the World Championshsip tournament, and that it is far from certain that he will participate in it (although he has signed that he will, before the match with Topalov). If Kramnik would have declined to participate, we would be at square one again, concearning the reunification. To accomodate Kramnik and to assure his participation in Mexico, FIDE cooked up the following regulations for the next cycle (which also solved Topalov's status):
Tournament conditions:
The tournament  Download games Anand won to become (undisputed) World Champion. Impact on the future This result meant that Anand had to play a World championship match against Kramnik in 2008. The match was soon agreed for October 2008. The other match, between Topalov and 2007 World Cup winner (Kamsky), was/is more troublesome. This message has been edited. Last edited by: ebutaljib, |
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2008 World Championship: Viswanathan Anand vs. Vladimir Borisovich Kramnik
 Background Shortly after World Championship tournament in Mexico, a World Championship match between the reigning World Champion, Viswanathan Anand, and former World Champion, Vladimir Kramnik, was agreed to take place in October 2008. Although it was agreed that the winner of Mexico is the undisputed World Champion, Kramnik started little by little to dispute Anand's title. He didn't exactly claim the title for himself, but he made comments how the title can only be won in a match, and not in tournament. On direct questions if Anand is World Champion he responded affirmative but quickly added that the title won in a tournament doesn't have the same value as the title won in a match. He even went as far to say I have lent Anand the crown in one of the interviews, and that he doesn't feel he lost the title in Mexico. For whatever reasons there was a substantial part of the chess community who agreed with Kramnik's views. Also the mach conditions treated Kramnik more as somekind of co-champion rather than the challenger (Anand had no champion's advantage, prize fund was to be split equally regardless of the result, etc.). So eventhough there was already a single World Champion, the match between Anand and Kramnik could be seen as a final and definitive unification of the title. Players Viswanathan Anand the reigning World Champion. Vladimir Borisovich Kramnik the challenger. Match conditions:
The Match  Download games Anand started the match convincingly and already had almost unreachable 3 point lead after first 6 games. It was not until game 8 that Kramnik achieved, as he said, "a decent position" for the first time in the match. With his back against the wall, Kramnik started ta play better and achieved a winning position in game 9, but failed to convert it. He then went to win game 10, before being comfortably held to a draw in game 11 by Anand who succesfuly defended his title. The future of World Championship 2007-2009 cycle It was supposed to be the last improvised World Championship cycle, where all the things from the past should be cleared up. While Anand vs. Kramnik already resolved Kramnik's status, the challenger match between Topalov and Kamsky ( 2007 World Cup winner) is yet to be played. The match was scheduled for 26th November 2008, but got delayed due to actions of Kamsky's camp (read here). The 8 game match is now scheduled for February 2009. The winner will get a right to play with Anand for the World Championship in late 2009 or early 2010. 2008-2010/11 cycle It was supposed to be the first "regular" cycle. Originally it consisted of 4 stages: After first two of the Grand Prix tournaments have been played in Baku and Sochi, dark clouds started to gather over the Grand Prix. First the third venue (Doha, Qatar) pulled out, then Ilyumzhinov controversially changed the already ongoing cycle by abolishing the challenger match and seting up a Candidates tournament instead. Shortly after another venue (Montreux, Switzerland) pulled out, the highest seed Magnus Carlsen decided to withdraw from the Grand Prix. So what looked like a fresh start, turned into a complete nightmare and the whole cycle is very uncertain (read here) This message has been edited. Last edited by: ebutaljib, |
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Here is a slide show through all World Championship cycles
http://cid-c08b59ad49a5884d.sk...20Championship?ref=1 and some notable tournaments from the past http://cid-ea385817c877cd86.sk...ry/Tournaments?ref=1 |
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Interesting history of the world chess championship  Thanks for the links   |
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Thanks for the history. That's a difficult problem that FIDE (or chess itself) has. I think they're pretty close to a solution though -- you need an event that the chess public anticipates enough that it overshadows the merit of the players themselves.
As an example, if any football team in the U.S. refused to participate in the Super Bowl, nobody would consider them the champions. It's not because the best team always wins the Super Bowl, it's because the traditions of the event itself far outweight anyone's consideration of which team is strongest. I think some sort of tournament mechanism feeding a classic match is definitely the right way to go. It might not produce the best challenger every year, but it doesn't tarnish the integrity of the champion. The Grand Prix winner having a match with the World Cup winner wasn't such a good idea. It leaves the whole process vulnerable to the controversies and funding of two tournaments, not to mention the Challenger match. Make the challenger tournament, whatever form it takes, fun and exciting for the public. Then for goodness sake, stop changing the rules every cycle (or mid-match!). A 2 year cycle is good, but keep the rules as consistent as possible cycle to cylce. If they can get a few cycles under their belt, the tradition will start to take hold, and the players will participate. |
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Here you can find historical FIDE ratings from the beginning (1970) to 2001. From there on, rating list can be found on FIDE's website.
By clicking a player name, you can see his rating and position on all the lists he appeared in. For example, if you click Garry Kasparov you can see that he was practically in top 10 (mostly as number 1) for his entire career. If you click Anatoly Karpov and combine it with the post 2000 period from the FIDE site, you can see that he was in top 100 in ALL rating lists ever published to this date. |
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