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.

Background

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 took part, including the top seed and winner of the previous FIDE World Championship Viswanathan Anand.

Playing conditions

The championship was a knockout tournament similar to other FIDE World Chess Championships between 1998 and 2004: the players were paired for short matches, with losers eliminated. The field of 128 participants was reduced to one winner over seven rounds.

Rounds 1–5 consisted of a two-game match, followed by tie breaks at faster time controls if required. The time control for regular games was 75 minutes for the first 40 moves and 15 minutes for the rest of the game, with 30 seconds added after each move. Tie breaks consisted of two rapid chess games (20 minutes each + 10 seconds per move); followed by two blitz games if required (5 minutes + 10 seconds per move); followed by a single Armageddon chess game if required (white has 6 minutes and must win, black has 5 minutes and only needs to draw). The semifinals (round 6) were best of four games, and the final was best of eight games, with the same conditions for the tie-breaks.

In addition to previous criticisms of the knockout format (see FIDE World Chess Championship 1998#Controversies), this tournament was criticised by Garry Kasparov for using a faster time control, which Kasparov claimed was lowering the standard of the games.

Participants

All players are Grandmasters unless indicated otherwise.

1. Viswanathan Anand (IND), 2797
2. Michael Adams (ENG), 2744
3. Alexander Morozevich (RUS), 2739
4. Vasyl Ivanchuk (UKR), 2731
5. Peter Leko (HUN), 2730
6. Evgeny Bareev (RUS), 2719
7. Boris Gelfand (ISR), 2714
8. Veselin Topalov (BUL), 2711
9. Alexei Shirov (ESP), 2706
10. Rustam Kasimdzhanov (UZB), 2704
11. Ilya Smirin (ISR), 2702
12. Alexander Khalifman (RUS), 2699
13. Loek van Wely (NED), 2695
14. Kiril Georgiev (BUL), 2695
15. Peter Svidler (RUS), 2695
16. Anatoly Karpov (RUS), 2692
17. Alexey Dreev (RUS), 2690
18. Judit Polgár (HUN), 2686
19. Ruslan Ponomariov (UKR), 2684
20. Ye Jiangchuan (CHN), 2677
21. Joël Lautier (FRA), 2675
22. Nigel Short (ENG), 2675
23. Zurab Azmaiparashvili (GEO), 2674
24. Alexander Grischuk (RUS), 2669
25. Zhang Zhong (CHN), 2667
26. Alexander Beliavsky (SLO), 2659
27. Viktor Bologan (MDA), 2655
28. Predrag Nikolić (BIH), 2652
29. Emil Sutovsky (ISR), 2651
30. Rafael Vaganian (ARM), 2650
31. Xu Jun (CHN), 2646
32. Vladislav Tkachiev (FRA), 2642
33. Sergei Rublevsky (RUS), 2639
34. Vadim Zvjaginsev (RUS), 2638
35. Mikhail Gurevich (BEL), 2633
36. Francisco Vallejo Pons (ESP), 2630
37. Rustem Dautov (GER), 2630
38. Konstantin Sakaev (RUS), 2630
39. Aleksander Delchev (BUL), 2629
40. Alexander Lastin (RUS), 2628
41. Alexander Motylev (RUS), 2627
42. Sergei Movsesian (CZE), 2627
43. Jaan Ehlvest (EST), 2627
44. Sergei Shipov (RUS), 2625
45. Viktor Korchnoi (SUI), 2624
46. Sergei Tiviakov (NED), 2618
47. Vadim Milov (SUI), 2614
48. Gilberto Milos (BRA), 2614
49. Evgeny Pigusov (RUS), 2613
50. Alexander Graf (GER), 2610
51. Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu (ROM), 2609
52. Smbat Lputian (ARM), 2608
53. Gregory Kaidanov (USA), 2605
54. Thomas Luther (GER), 2604
55. Karen Asrian (ARM), 2604
56. Zoltan Gyimesi (HUN), 2602
57. Boris Gulko (USA), 2602
58. Pavel Kotsur (KAZ), 2600
59. Vladimir Baklan (UKR), 2599
60. Alexei Fedorov (BLR), 2599
61. Boris Avrukh (ISR), 2598
62. Vereslav Eingorn (UKR), 2598
63. Mikhail Kobalia (RUS), 2595
64. Alexander Goldin (USA), 2594
65. Peter Heine Nielsen (DEN), 2593
66. Konstantin Aseev (RUS), 2591
67. Krishnan Sasikiran (IND), 2589
68. Bartłomiej Macieja (POL), 2588
69. Ashot Anastasian (ARM), 2588
70. Joel Benjamin (USA), 2587
71. Leinier Domínguez (CUB), 2585
72. Giovanni Vescovi (BRA), 2581
73. Stuart Conquest (ENG), 2580
74. Igor Khenkin (GER), 2579
75. Sergey Volkov (RUS), 2578
76. Alexander Shabalov (USA), 2574
77. Michał Krasenkow (POL), 2573
78. Lázaro Bruzón (CUB), 2573
79. Šarūnas Šulskis (LTU), 2573
80. Alexander Ivanov (USA), 2573
81. Đào Thiên Hải (VIE), 2572
82. Alex Yermolinsky (USA), 2571
83. Larry Christiansen (USA), 2570
84. Lev Psakhis (ISR), 2566
85. Alexandre Lesiège (CAN), 2564
86. Teimour Radjabov (AZE), 2558
87. Vadim Malakhatko (UKR), 2557
88. Liang Chong (CHN), 2556, IM
89. Ognjen Cvitan (CRO), 2555
90. Georgy Timoshenko (UKR), 2554
91. Andrei Volokitin (UKR), 2551, IM
92. Dmitry Gurevich (USA), 2550
93. Stanislav Savchenko (UKR), 2549
94. Dorian Rogozenko (ROM), 2548
95. Jacek Gdański (POL), 2537
96. Nguyễn Anh Dũng (VIE), 2533
97. Hichem Hamdouchi (MAR), 2533
98. Suat Atalık (BIH), 2532
99. Slim Belkhodja (TUN), 2531, IM
100. Alonso Zapata (COL), 2530
101. Shukhrat Safin (UZB), 2529
102. Igor Nataf (FRA), 2527
103. Pendyala Harikrishna (IND), 2522
104. Yu Shaoteng (CHN), 2517, IM
105. Ehsan Ghaem-Maghami (IRI), 2509
106. Saidali Iuldachev (UZB), 2508
107. Daniel Cámpora (ARG), 2506
108. Dibyendu Barua (IND), 2499
109. Alexei Barsov (UZB), 2495
110. Li Wenliang (CHN), 2494, IM
111. Mohamad Al-Modiahki (QAT), 2492
112. Khvicha Supatashvili (GEO), 2487, IM
113. Zhang Pengxiang (CHN), 2487
114. Alejandro Hoffman (ARG), 2481
115. Fouad El Taher (EGY), 2477, IM
116. Rubén Felgaer (ARG), 2471, IM
117. Surya Shekhar Ganguly (IND), 2464, IM
118. Amon Simutowe (ZAM), 2462, IM
119. Nikolai Vlassov (RUS), 2461, IM
120. Aimen Rizouk (ALG), 2442, IM
121. Facundo Pierrot (ARG), 2425, IM
122. Alexis Cabrera (CUB), 2415, IM
123. Mikhail Gluzman (AUS), 2400, IM
124. Watu Kobese (RSA), 2373, IM
125. Baatr Shovunov (RUS), 2348, IM
126. Nugzar Zeliakov (RUS), unrated, no title
127. Gaetan Sarthou (FRA), 2357, FM
128. Olivier Touzane (FRA), 2382, IM

Qualification

Players qualified for the championship according to the following criteria:

1. four semi-finalists of the previous championship (Viswanathan Anand, Alexei Shirov, Michael Adams, Alexander Grischuk);
2. the World Junior Champion 2000 (Lázaro Bruzón);
3. 20 best rated players (the average of July 2000 and January 2001 rating lists was used);
4. 90 qualifiers from the continental championships;
5. eight qualifiers from the Internet championship;
6. five nominees of the FIDE President.

Schedule

There was one rest day during round 4 and two rest days during round 6. The tie-breaks of rounds 1–5 were played in the evening following the second game. The final took place one month after rounds 1–6.

• Round 1: 27 November 2001, 28 November 2001 (tiebreaks on 28 November 2001)
• Round 2: 29 November 2001, 30 November 2001 (tiebreaks on 30 November 2001)
• Round 3: 1 December 2001, 2 December 2001 (tiebreaks on 2 December 2001)
• Round 4: 3 December 2001, 5 December 2001 (tiebreaks on 5 December 2001)
• Round 5: 6 December 2001, 7 December 2001 (tiebreaks on 7 December 2001)
• Round 6: 8 December 2001, 10 December 2001, 11 December 2001, 13 December 2001 (tiebreaks on 14 December 2001)
• Round 7: 16 January 2002 – 24 January 2002, with a rest day on 20 January 2002 (tiebreaks on 25 January 2002)

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

World Chess Championship Final 2002 Rating 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Points Ruslan Ponomariov (Ukraine) 2684 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 4½ Vasyl Ivanchuk (Ukraine) 2731 0 ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ 2½

External links