FIDE World Chess Championship 1999

The FIDE World Chess Championship 1999 was held at Caesars Palace on the Las Vegas Strip between 31 July and 28 August 1999. The championship was won by Russian Alexander Khalifman, making him the FIDE World Chess Champion.

Format

The format was a knockout tournament of short matches. This was similar in style to that used at the FIDE World Chess Championship 1998, and had the same advantages and disadvantages.

A change from the 1998 championship was that incumbent champion (Anatoly Karpov) had no special privileges, other than that he (like a number of leading players) was seeded into the second round. In protest at this, Karpov refused to play.

Controversy and non-participants

In addition to Karpov, neither Garry Kasparov nor Viswanathan Anand took part. Kasparov, holder of a rival world championship title, refused to play in any of the FIDE knockout championships, and Anand was negotiating to play a match against Kasparov for his title. (This match never took place – see Classical World Chess Championship 2000.)

Only three players in the top fifteen reached the quarterfinals and by the semifinals most of the favourites had been eliminated. Kasparov called three of the quarterfinalists "tourists", perhaps intending only to reflect the surprising results of the earlier rounds, but the remark raised some controversy.

Winner Khalifman was rated 44th in the world at the time, which some compared unfavourably to PCA champion Kasparov being ranked No. 1. Khalifman said after the tournament, "Rating system works perfectly for players who play only in round robin closed events. I think most of them are overrated. Organizers invite same people over and over because they have the same rating and their rating stays high." Perhaps in response, Khalifman was invited to the next Linares chess tournament, and performed creditably (though placing below joint winner Kasparov).

Participants

1. Vladimir Kramnik (RUS), 2751
2. Alexei Shirov (ESP), 2726
3. Alexander Morozevich1 (RUS), 2723
4. Gata Kamsky (USA), 2720
5. Michael Adams (ENG), 2716
6. Vassily Ivanchuk (UKR), 2714
7. Peter Svidler (RUS), 2713
8. Anatoly Karpov1 (RUS), 2710
9. Veselin Topalov (BUL), 2700
10. Nigel Short (ENG), 2697
11. Peter Leko (HUN), 2694
12. Boris Gelfand (ISR), 2691
13. Sergei Rublevsky (RUS), 2684
14. Zurab Azmaiparashvili (GEO), 2681
15. Evgeny Bareev (RUS), 2679
16. Judit Polgár (HUN), 2677
17. Viktor Korchnoi (SUI), 2673
18. Valery Salov (RUS), 2670
19. Jan Timman (NED), 2670
20. Matthew Sadler (ENG), 2667
21. Zoltán Almási (HUN), 2665
22. Sergei Shipov (RUS), 2662
23. Kiril Georgiev (BUL), 2659
24. Vadim Zvjaginsev (RUS), 2658
25. Ilya Smirin (ISR), 2652
26. Alexander Beliavsky (SLO), 2650
27. Sergei Movsesian (CZE), 2650
28. Konstantin Sakaev (RUS), 2649
29. Alexei Fedorov (BLR), 2648
30. Michael Krasenkow (POL), 2643
31. Vladimir Akopian (ARM), 2640
32. Vladislav Tkachiev (FRA), 2634
33. Sergei Tiviakov (RUS), 2627
34. Ivan Sokolov (BIH), 2624
35. Boris Gulko (USA), 2620
36. Alexander Khalifman (RUS), 2616
37. Nick DeFirmian (USA), 2610
38. Matthias Wahls (GER), 2609
39. Aleksej Aleksandrov (BLR), 2609
40. Tony Miles (ENG), 2609
41. Ruslan Ponomariov (UKR), 2609
42. Utut Adianto (INA), 2607
43. Rustam Kasimdzhanov (UZB), 2606
44. Jonathan Speelman (ENG), 2601
45. Alex Yermolinsky (USA), 2597
46. Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu (ROM), 2594
47. Jaan Ehlvest (EST), 2593
48. Joel Benjamin (USA), 2593
49. Sergey Dolmatov (RUS), 2589
50. Gilberto Milos (BRA), 2586
51. Eduardas Rozentalis (LTU), 2577
52. Karen Asrian (ARM), 2576
53. Peng Xiaomin (CHN), 2574
54. Hannes Stefánsson (ISL), 2569
55. Vlastimil Babula (CZE), 2565
56. Zsuzsa Polgar1 (HUN), 2565
57. Lev Psakhis (ISR), 2564
58. Hichem Hamdouchi (MAR), 2564
59. Goran Dizdar (CRO), 2563
60. Dragoljub Velimirović1 (YUG), 2563
61. Vasilios Kotronias (CYP), 2561
62. Rafael Leitão (BRA), 2559
63. Rogelio Antonio Jr. (PHI), 2558
64. Jordi Magem Badals (ESP), 2557
65. Robert Zelcic (CRO), 2554
66. Bartłomiej Macieja (POL), 2553
67. Maia Chiburdanidze (GEO), 2551
68. Alejandro Sergio Hoffman (ARG), 2547
69. Dmitry Gurevich (USA), 2545
70. Sergey Kudrin (USA), 2543
71. Dimitri Reinderman (NED), 2541
72. Dibyendu Barua (IND), 2538
73. Mikhail Kobalia (RUS), 2537
74. Altin Cela (ALB), 2536
75. Julio Becerra Rivero (CUB), 2535
76. Ralf Åkesson (SWE), 2530
77. Mohammed Al-Modiahki (QAT), 2530
78. Daniel Fridman (LAT), 2529
79. Christian Bauer (FRA), 2528
80. Pablo Ricardi (ARG), 2527
81. Kevin Spraggett (CAN), 2523
82. Stefan Đurić (YUG), 2517
83. Friso Nijboer (NED), 2515
84. Peter Heine Nielsen (DEN), 2515
85. Pavel Kotsur (KAZ), 2511
86. Alexander Ivanov (USA), 2505
87. Levon Aronian (ARM), 2502
88. Andrés Rodríguez (URU), 2500
89. Darmen Sadvakasov (KAZ), 2487
90. Alexander Zubarev (UKR), 2478
91. Tal Shaked (USA), 2477
92. Esam Mohamed Ahmed Nagib (EGY), 2458
93. Alonso Zapata (COL), 2454
94. Imad Hakki2 (SYR), 2423
95. Liang Chong (CHN), 2400
96. Watu Kobese (RSA), 2389
97. Slim Bouaziz (TUN), 2387
98. Amir Bagheri2 (IRI), 2368
99. Alexander Kozak (RUS), 2330
100. Vladimir Feldman (AUS), 2330

1 Morozevich, Karpov, Z. Polgar, and Velimirovic had to be replaced with the following players:

• Alexey Dreev (RUS)
• Vadim Milov (SUI)
• Ulf Andersson (SWE)
• Joël Lautier (FRA)

2 Hakki and Bagheri did not appear due to the visa problems.

Results, rounds 1–4

Section 1

Section 2

Section 3

Section 4

Section 5

Section 6

Section 7

Section 8

Results, rounds 5–7

Championship final

FIDE World Chess Championship Final 1999 Rating 1 2 3 4 5 6 Points Vladimir Akopian (Armenia) 2640 0 ½ 1 0 ½ ½ 2½ Alexander Khalifman (Russia) 2616 1 ½ 0 1 ½ ½ 3½

External links