World Chess Champions (FIDE and PCA - Split Title)

🌍 World Chess Champions
(FIDE and PCA - Split Title)

🌍 World Chess Champions
- before FIDE
- Domination of Soviet Union Players

1990 Interzonal Tournament was held in June–July and GM. Nigel Short (England) came fourth and qualified for the Candidates Tournament.

1991-1993 Candidates Tournament,
Round of 16 in January-February 1991 (the best of 8 games, if tied, extra pairs of Rapid Chess games were played until one player had the lead),
Short defeated GM. Jon Speelman (England) 5½-4½ (Rapid 1½-½),
GM. Jan Timman (Netherlands) defeated GM. Robert Hübner (Germany) 4½-2½,
while GM. Anatoly Karpov (Soviet Union) would start playing in the Quarter Finals.
Quarter Finals in August 1991 (the best of 8 games, if tied, extra pairs of Rapid Chess games were played until one player had the lead),
Short defeated GM. Boris Gelfand (Soviet Union) 5-3,
Timman defeated GM. Viktor Korchnoi (Switzerland) 4½-2½,
Karpov defeated GM. Viswanathan Anand (India) 4½-3½.
Semi Finals in April 1992 (the best of 10 games, if tied, extra pairs of Rapid Chess games were played until one player had the lead),
Short defeated Karpov (Russia) 6-4,
Timman defeated GM. Artur Yusupov (Russia) 6-4,
and Final in January 1993 (the best of 14 games, if tied, extra pairs of Rapid Chess games were played until one player had the lead),
Short defeated Timman 7½-5½.
Short's victory earned him the right to challenge defending World Champion GM. Garry Kasparov (Russia) for the title at the FIDE World Championship 1993.

By FIDE regulation, the bids for where the FIDE World Championship is played should have been decided by three parties, namely FIDE, Kasparov as World Champion and Short as Challenger.
FIDE President 1982-1995, Florencio Campomanes (Philippines) lacked consultation with the players by simply announcing the venue of the winning bid as being Manchester, England.
FIDE derived the 20% cut of the prize fund of the World Championship.

In response to this, Kasparov and Short made the historic decision, splitting from FIDE, and playing their World Championship title match under the auspices of the Professional Chess Association (PCA) which they created for the marketing and organizing of World Championship match and as a rival organization to FIDE.
In response, FIDE stripped Kasparov of his World Champion title and removed Short as a challenger and removed both from their rating lists.

GM. Anatoly Karpov
World Champion:  1975-1985
FIDE World Champion:  1993-1999
Peak Rating:  2780 (July 1994)
Nationality:  Soviet Union / Russia
Defended Title:  2 times
FIDE Defended Title:  2 times
Regained Title:  1 time

Born:  May 23, 1951 - Zlatoust, Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union

Regained Title

FIDE World Championship 1993
Netherlands and Indonesia (September 6 - November 1)

To replace GM. Garry Kasparov (Russia) and GM. Nigel Short (England), FIDE chose GM. Anatoly Karpov (Russia) and GM. Jan Timman (Netherlands) because they were the players who had advanced furthest in the Candidates Tournament and were both defeated by Short.
GM. Artur Yusupov (Russia), might have been considered as a legitimate candidate as well, but was simply excluded by FIDE decision.

Known in some circles as “The Battle of the Losers”.
The match attracted little financial support, little media interest and little interest in the chess world.

Most people regarded Kasparov as the real World Champion.
Nevertheless, the FIDE World Championship continued to exist as a separate title.

Time Control:  40 moves in 2½ hours
and then 16 moves in 1 hour.
Winner:  first player to reach 12½ points.
Venues:
- Zwolle, Netherlands (games 1-3)
Karpov: +1, =1, -1
- Arnhem, Netherlands (games 4-6)
Karpov: +1, =2, -0
- Amsterdam, Netherlands (games 7-12)
Karpov: +1, =5, -0
- Jakarta, Indonesia (games 13-21)
Karpov: +3, =5, -1 

GM. Anatoly Karpov (2760, Russia)  vs  GM. Jan Timman (2620, Netherlands)
Final Score:  12½ - 8½
(Karpov: +6, =13, -2)

FIDE Defended Title

FIDE World Championship 1996
Elista, Russia (June 6 - July 11)

The format was a departure from all previous FIDE World Championships, in that the defending champion GM. Anatoly Karpov (Russia) would face a challenger. Instead, he had to compete in the Candidates Tournament - Round 3.

The Candidates Tournament - Round 3 was held in February 1995 (the best of 10 games, if tied, extra pairs of Rapid Chess games were played until one player had the lead),
GM. Anatoly Karpov (Russia) defeated GM. Boris Gelfand (Belarus) 6-3,
GM. Gata Kamsky (U.S.A.) defeated GM. Valery Salov (Russia) 5½-1½.
Karpov and Kamsky qualified for the FIDE World Championship 1996.

Winner:  first player to reach 10½ points,
in the event of a 10-10 tie, extra pairs of Rapid Chess games were played until one player had the lead.

GM. Anatoly Karpov (2770, Russia)  vs  GM. Gata Kamsky (2735, U.S.A.)
Final Score:  10½ - 7½
(Karpov: +6, =9, -3)

FIDE World Championship 1998
Lausanne, Switzerland (January 2-9)

From 1948 until 1996, FIDE World Championships had followed a similar pattern: a series of qualifying tournaments and matches were held over more than a year, culminating in the Candidates Tournament.
The winner of the Candidates Tournament was the official challenger and would play the defending champion in a match for FIDE World Championship.
The FIDE World Championship 1996 was an exception as the defending champion had to participate in the Candidates Tournament.

In 1997, under FIDE President 1995-2018, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov (Russia), FIDE scrapped the well established system a series of qualifying tournaments, culminating in the Candidates Tournament and replaced them with a knockout tournament (single-elimination tournament) of short 2 games matches in the earlier rounds with match tie-breakers using pairs of Rapid Chess games.
In addition, it was proposed by Ilyumzhinov as a way to unify the two rival world titles.
GM. Garry Kasparov (Russia) declined his invitation.

Challenger was determined in a 1997 FIDE Knockout Tournament held in Groningen, Netherlands on December 9-30.
GM. Viswanathan Anand (India) became a winner after going through 7 rounds by defeating his opponents and 3 days later, he had to face off the defending champion GM. Anatoly Karpov (Russia) in Lausanne, Switzerland.
However, the scheduling of the match caused great controversy regarding the fairness of the contest: Anand was forced to play a fresh and prepared Karpov a mere three days after his exhausting performance at Groningen.

Winner:  first player to reach 3½ points,
in the event of a 3-3 tie, extra pairs of Rapid Chess games were played until one player had the lead.

GM. Anatoly Karpov (2735, Russia)  vs  GM. Viswanathan Anand (2770, India)
Final Score:  5 - 3 (Rapid 2-0)
(Karpov: +2, =2, -2 and Rapid +2, =0, -0 )

GM. Garry Kasparov
World Champion:  1985-1993
PCA World Champion:  1993-2000
Peak Rating:  2851 (July 1999)
Nationality:  Soviet Union / Russia
Defended Title:  3 times
PCA Defended Title:  1 time

Born:  April 13, 1963 - Baku, Azerbaijan SSR, Soviet Union

PCA (Classical) World Chess Championship 1993
London, England (September 7 - October 21) 

The PCA (Classical) World Chess Championship 1993 was played concurrently with the FIDE World Championship 1993.

Time Control:  40 moves in 2½ hours
and then 16 moves in 1 hour.
Winner:  first player to reach 12½ points. 

GM. Garry Kasparov (2815, Russia)  vs  GM. Nigel Short (2685, England)
Final Score:  12½ - 7½
(Kasparov: +6, =13, -1) 

Kasparov became the PCA World Champion, however, he was recognized by the world as the one true World Chess Champion.

PCA Defended Title

PCA (Classical) World Chess Championship 1995
New York City, U.S.A. (September 10 - October 16)

The PCA held a 1993 PCA Qualifying Tournament and 1994-1995 PCA Candidates Tournament.
A number of leading players did not participate, most notably FIDE World Champion GM. Anatoly Karpov (Russia).

Many of the same players competed in both organization's qualifying events. However, GM. Garry Kasparov (Russia) and GM. Nigel Short (England) did not compete in the FIDE event.

Time Control:  40 moves in 2 hours
and then 20 moves in 1 hour,
 followed by 30 minutes to complete the game.
Winner:  first player to reach 10½ points,
in the event of a 10-10 tie, the defending champion would defend the title. 

GM. Garry Kasparov (2805, Russia)  vs  GM. Viswanathan Anand (2715, India)
Final Score:  10½ - 7½
(Kasparov: +4, =13, -1)

GM. Alexander Khalifman
FIDE World Champion:  1999-2000
Peak Rating:  2702 (October 2001)
Nationality:  Russia

Born:  January 18, 1966 - Leningrad (Saint Petersburg), Russian SFSR, Soviet Union

FIDE World Championship 1999
Las Vegas, U.S.A. (July 31 - August 28)

The format was a a knockout tournament of short 2 games matches in the earlier rounds with match tie-breakers using pairs of Rapid Chess games, similar to that used at the FIDE World Championship 1998.

A change from the FIDE World Championship 1998 was that the defending champion GM. Anatoly Karpov (Russia) had to start playing his match in the second round of 7 rounds, or in this case the seventh round was a match for the World Champion title at the FIDE World Championship 1999.
In protest at this, Karpov refused to play.

Format:
knockout tournament (single-elimination tournament)
Winner (Round 7):
first player to reach 3½ points,
in the event of a 3-3 tie, extra pairs of Rapid Chess games were played until one player had the lead. 

GM. Alexander Khalifman (2616, Russia)  vs  GM. Vladimir Akopian (2640, Armenia)
Final Score:  3½ - 2½
(Khalifman: +2, =3, -1)

GM. Vladimir Kramnik
World Champion:  2006-2007
PCA World Champion:  2000-2006
Peak Rating:  2817 (October 2016)
Nationality:  Russia
PCA Defended Title:  1 time

Born:  June 25, 1975 - Tuapse, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union

PCA (Classical) World Chess Championship 2000
London, England (October 8 - November 4) 

Although GM. Garry Kasparov (Russia) was not recognized as World Champion by FIDE, the rest of the chess world continued to acknowledged him as the true World Champion, while FIDE's new format to select their World Champion, consisting of a knockout tournament (single-elimination tournament) of short 2 games matches, offended the sensibilities of players and fans around the world.

The Professional Chess Association (PCA) folded in 1996 and the initial contract with sponsor had expired. Kasparov was looking for a new sponsor, but hadn't been able to find one.
However, Kasparov still claimed he was the rightful World Champion, so Kasparov looked for other ways to select his next challenger.

Without the sponsorship of the PCA, Kasparov found he was unable to organise a series of qualifying matches to choose a challenger.
Eventually in 1998, he announced that, based on their ratings and results.

Winner:  first player to reach 8½ points,
in the event of a 8-8 tie, the defending champion would defend the title.

GM. Vladimir Kramnik (2772, Russia)  vs  GM. Garry Kasparov (2849, Russia)
Final Score:  8½ - 6½
(Kramnik: +2, =13, -0)

PCA Defended Title

PCA (Classical) World Chess Championship 2004
Brissago, Switzerland (September 25 - October 18) 

In July 2002 in Germany, Dortmund Sparkassen Chess Meeting acted as the Candidates Tournament to determine the challenger to GM. Vladimir Kramnik (Russia).

World number 1, GM. Garry Kasparov (Russia) as the world's highest rated player declined the invitation, instead insisting that he deserved a rematch with Kramnik.
Three others top 10 players, GM. Viswanathan Anand (FIDE World Champion 2000-2002, India), GM. Ruslan Ponomariov (FIDE World Champion 2002-2004, Ukraine) and world number 8, GM. Vasyl Ivanchuk (Ukraine) declined to participate.
Apart from these four players and Kramnik, the competitors were the 7 highest rated players and 1 player from the host country.

Winner:  first player to reach 7½ points,
in the event of a 7-7 tie, the defending champion would defend the title.

GM. Vladimir Kramnik (2770, Russia)  vs  GM. Péter Lékó (2741, Hungary)
Final Score:  7 - 7
(Kramnik: +2, =10, -2)

GM. Viswanathan Anand
World Champion:  2007-2013
FIDE World Champion:  2000-2002
Peak Rating:  2817 (March 2011)
Nationality:  India
Defended Title:  3 times
Regained Title:  1 time

Born:  December 11, 1969 - Mayiladuthurai, Tamil Nadu, India

FIDE World Championship 2000
India and Iran (November 27 - December 24) 

The newly crowned PCA (Classical) World Champion, GM. Vladimir Kramnik (Russia), did not participate, as well as the world's highest-rated player, GM. Garry Kasparov (Russia), GM. Anatoly Karpov (Russia) also did not participate.
However, most other strongest players of the world took part.

Format:
knockout tournament (single-elimination tournament)
Time Control:
40 moves in 100 minutes,
then 50 minutes added after move 40,
then 10 minutes added after move 60,
with 30 seconds increment per move, starting with move 1.
Winner (Round 7):
first player to reach 3½ points,
in the event of a 3-3 tie,
two Rapid Chess games (25 minutes and 10 seconds increment per move),
followed by two Rapid Chess games (15 minutes and 10 seconds increment per move) if required,
followed by a series of Blitz games (4 minutes and 10 seconds increment per move for White; 5 minutes and 10 seconds increment per move for Black), first player to win is the winner of the match.
Venues:
- New Delhi, India (Nov 27 - Dec 15)
(Rounds 1-6)
- Tehran, Iran (Dec 20-24)
(Round 7) 

GM. Viswanathan Anand (2774, India)  vs  GM. Alexei Shirov (2746, Spain)
Final Score:  3½ - ½
(Anand: +3, =1, -0)

GM. Ruslan Ponomariov
FIDE World Champion:  2002-2004
Peak Rating:  2764 (July 2011)
Nationality:  Ukraine

Born:  October 11, 1983 - Horlivka, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union

FIDE World Championship 2001-2002
Moscow, Russia (November 27, 2001 - January 23, 2002) 

The PCA (Classical) World Champion, GM. Vladimir Kramnik (Russia), did not participate, as well as the world's highest-rated player, GM. Garry Kasparov (Russia).
However, most other strongest players of the world took part.

Format:
knockout tournament (single-elimination tournament)
Time Control:
40 moves in 70 minutes,
then 15 minutes added after move 40,
with 30 seconds increment per move, starting with move 1.
Winner (Round 7):
first player to reach 4½ points,
in the event of a 4-4 tie,
two Rapid Chess games (20 minutes and 10 seconds increment per move),
followed by two Blitz games (5 minutes and 10 seconds increment per move) if required,
followed by a single Armageddon Chess game (White has 6 minutes and must win; Black has 5 minutes and only needs to draw). 

This tournament was criticised by Kasparov for using a faster time control, which Kasparov claimed was lowering the standard of the games.

GM. Ruslan Ponomariov (2684, Ukraine)  vs  GM. Vasyl Ivanchuk (2731, Ukraine)
Final Score:  4½ - 2½
(Ponomariov: +2, =5, -0) 

Ponomariov became the youngest FIDE World Champion at the age of 18.

GM. Rustam Kasimdzhanov
FIDE World Champion:  2004-2005
Peak Rating:  2715 (May 2015)
Nationality:  Uzbekistan

Born:  December 5, 1979 - Tashkent, Uzbek SSR, Soviet Union

FIDE World Championship 2004
Tripoli, Libya (June 18 - July 13)

The FIDE World Championships attracted many controversies.
As with previous FIDE World Championships, criticism centered of the event's format, a knockout tournament (single-elimination tournament) of short 2 games matches, in particular the relatively quick time controls have been controversial, led many people to consider that the FIDE World Championships to be of little value in determining the best player as World Champion. 

Only two of the world's top ten took part, GM. Michael Adams (England) and GM. Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria) and this has led to controversy that any tournament with so many top players missing should not be considered a World Championship at all.

Format:
knockout tournament (single-elimination tournament)
Time Control:
40 moves in 1½ hours,
then 15 minutes added after move 40,
with 30 seconds increment per move, starting with move 1.
Winner (Round 7):
first player to reach 3½ points,
in the event of a 3-3 tie,
two Rapid Chess games (25 minutes and 10 seconds increment per move),
followed by two Blitz games (5 minutes and 10 seconds increment per move) if required,
followed by a single Armageddon Chess game (White has 6 minutes and must win; Black has 5 minutes and only needs to draw).

GM. Rustam Kasimdzhanov (2652, Uzbekistan)  vs  GM. Michael Adams (2731, England)
Final Score:  4½ - 3½ (Rapid 1½-½)
(Kasimdzhanov: +2, =2, -2 and Rapid +1, =1, -0 )

GM. Veselin Topalov
FIDE World Champion:  2005-2006
Peak Rating:  2816 (July 2015)
Nationality:  Bulgaria

Born:  March 15, 1975 - Ruse, Bulgaria

FIDE World Championship 2005
Potrero de los Funes, San Luis Province, Argentina (September 27 - October 16) 

In the face of criticism of the FIDE World Championships held from 1998 to 2004, FIDE made changes for the FIDE World Championship 2005 by using normal time control and changing the format to an eight-player, double round-robin event.

The 8 players invited were:
- FIDE World Champion 2004 and finalist,
- PCA (Classic) World Champion 2004 and challenger,
- the next four top-rated players, from the average of the July 2004 to January 2005 lists:
GM. Garry Kasparov (Russia), GM. Viswanathan Anand (India), GM. Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria) and GM. Alexander Morozevich (Russia).

PCA (Classical) World Champion, GM. Vladimir Kramnik (Russia) refused to play as did the recently retired Kasparov. Their places were taken by the next two players on the FIDE rating list: GM. Peter Svidler (Russia) and GM. Judit Polgár (Hungary).
Polgár's participation made the FIDE World Championship 2005 the first to have involved a woman player.

Format:  double round-robin
Tie-Break:
- the first, head-to-head result
- the second, total number of wins

Match Results
Topalov
Anand ½ ½, Svidler 1 ½, Morozevich 1 ½, Lékó 1 ½, Kasimdzhanov 1 ½, Adams 1 ½, Polgár 1 ½

Anand
Svidler ½ ½, Morozevich 0 ½, Lékó ½ 1, Kasimdzhanov 0 1, Adams 1 ½, Polgár 1 1

Svidler
Morozevich 1 1, Lékó 1 ½, Kasimdzhanov ½ ½, Adams ½ ½, Polgár 1 ½

Morozevich
Lékó ½ 1, Kasimdzhanov ½ 1, Adams ½ ½, Polgár ½ ½

Lékó
Kasimdzhanov ½ 1, Adams 1 ½, Polgár 1 ½

Kasimdzhanov
Adams ½ ½, Polgár 0 1

Adams
Polgár ½ ½

Final Standings
GM. Veselin Topalov (2788, Bulgaria)
10 pts.  (+6, =8, -0)
GM. Viswanathan Anand (2788, India)
8½ pts.  (+5, =7, -2)
GM. Peter Svidler (2738, Russia)
8½ pts.  (+4, =9, -1)
GM. Alexander Morozevich (2707, Russia)
7 pts.  (+3, =8, -3)
GM. Péter Lékó (2763, Hungary)
6½ pts.  (+3, =7, -4)
GM. Rustam Kasimdzhanov (2670, Uzbekistan)
5½ pts.  (+2, =7, -5)
GM. Michael Adams (2719, England)
5½ pts.  (+0, =11, -3)
GM. Judit Polgár (2735, Hungary)
4½ pts.  (+1, =7, -6)

Notes

The plan for Reunification of the Title under Prague Agreement when it was drawn up in 2002 was that FIDE World Champion, GM. Ruslan Ponomariov (Ukraine) and world number one on the FIDE rating list, GM. Garry Kasparov (Russia) played a match,
and that the PCA (Classical) World Champion, GM. Vladimir Kramnik (Russia) and winner of the 2002 PCA Candidates Tournament (Dortmund Tournament), GM. Péter Lékó (Hungary) played each other.
The winners of these two matches would then play one another to determine a Unified World Champion.

 🌍 World Chess Champions (Reunification of the Title)