FIDE World Chess Championship 2004

World Chess Championship 2004

Rustam Kasimdzhanov
Tournament details
Host country	Libya
City	Tripoli
Venue(s)	Almahary Hotel
Dates	18 June – 13 July 2004 (2004-06-18 – 2004-07-13)
Format	Single-elimination tournament
Participants	128
Final positions
Champions	Rustam Kasimdzhanov
Runners-up	Michael Adams
Tournament statistics
Matches played	127
← 2002 2005 →

The FIDE World Chess Championship 2004 was held at the Almahary Hotel in Tripoli, Libya, from June 18 to July 13, 2004.

It was won by Rustam Kasimdzhanov, who beat Michael Adams in the final by a score of 4½–3½. He won about US$100,000 and the title of FIDE World Chess Champion.

The intention was that the tournament winner would play the world's top-ranked player at the time, Garry Kasparov, in a step towards the reunification of the World Chess Championship (which had been split into two separate titles since the World Chess Championship 1993); that match, however, never took place.

Since 1993, when Garry Kasparov and Nigel Short broke away from chess governing body FIDE to play their world championship match under the auspices of the newly formed Professional Chess Association, there had been two chess world championships: one organised by FIDE (which used the knock-out format from 1998 to 2004) and one by a variety of other bodies (in the form of a long match between champion and challenger). The 2004 FIDE Championship was a part of what was, at the time, the most serious attempt yet to reunify the title, the Prague Agreement.

The plan under this 2002 agreement was that reigning FIDE World Champion Ruslan Ponomariov and FIDE World #1 Garry Kasparov would play a match, and that the Classical World Champion Vladimir Kramnik and winner of Dortmund 2002 (which turned out to be Péter Lékó) would play a match. The winners of these two matches would then play one another to produce a unified champion.

The match between Ponomariov and Kasparov fell through after FIDE refused to alter various things in the contract on Ponomariov's request, and he refused to sign. FIDE announced that instead the winner of the next FIDE Knockout Championship played against Kasparov in a match to be held not later than July 2005 (Kramnik and Lékó played their match in September–October 2004). Therefore, as well as the championship determining who was to be the next FIDE world champion, it would also determine who played Kasparov in what was effectively a semifinal match for the unified championship.

After Kasimdzhanov's victory, FIDE opened the bidding for the Kasimdzhanov-Kasparov match in August 2004, with bids to be received by September 15. This deadline was later extended to September 25. The organizer was to be chosen at the FIDE Presidential Board meeting in October 2004, but in fact, FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov announced ahead of this time that the match had been awarded to the United Arab Emirates.

The plan did not come to fruition: the promised funding for the match never arrived, and plans to hold the match instead in Turkey also came to nothing. The whole question of how and when the Kasparov-Kasimdzhanov match would take place, or what would occur in its stead, was made irrelevant by Kasparov's announcement in March 2005 that he was retiring from serious chess.

Kasimdzhanov's victory earned him (and runner-up Michael Adams) an invitation to the FIDE World Chess Championship 2005. Kasimdzhanov also gained automatic entry to the Candidates Tournament for the FIDE World Chess Championship 2007.

The World Championship was eventually reunified in 2006, when classical champion Kramnik defeated the winner of the FIDE World Chess Championship 2005, Veselin Topalov.

The event attracted many controversies.

One source of criticism, in common with when it has been used for previous FIDE championships, has been the event's format. In particular, the relatively quick time controls have been controversial. (90 minutes for the first 40 moves, followed by 15 minutes until the end of the game and an incremental time of 30 seconds per move from move one.) Zhang Zhong, for example, said that "the time limit is too fast for such a World Championship. We should call it a World Cup … a World Championship needs more classic time controls"^[1] and Nigel Short claimed that "If you took the top 100 players and survey their opinion you would probably find around 75% are against this time control".^[2]

Another criticism centered on the knockout format of the tournament. Although knockout matches had been used prior to the introduction of this tournament format, the brevity of these matches (Best of 2 elimination matches with a Best of 6 Championship Match, as opposed to the Best of 10 elimination matches and Best of 24 Championship Match seen in earlier cycles) led many to consider them to be of little value in determining the better player.

Perhaps the greatest criticism concerned the choice of Libya as venue. Claims of human rights abuses, and state-sponsored terrorism caused some consternation, but on a more practical level the country's history of not allowing entry to citizens of Israel has been of some concern, as three Israeli players (Boris Gelfand, Emil Sutovsky and Ilya Smirin) had either qualified for the championships or were high on the list of reserves (in the event of qualifiers choosing not to play). Additionally, a number of players had joint Israeli and American citizenship, and so were also expected to be disallowed entry.

With this in mind, FIDE originally announced that a parallel event in Malta would be held alongside the one in Tripoli to ensure that Israeli players could take part—Sutovsky sent his entry form back on the condition he played in Malta.^[3] This parallel event was cancelled, however, following a press release from the Libyan authorities that "The Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya will pleasantly provide entry visas to all the qualified participants of this great Championship", which was taken by most (including FIDE) to mean that all players, including Israelis, would be welcome to take part. This appeared to be contradicted by a statement from Mohammed Qadhafi, chairman of the Libyan Olympic Committee (FIDE is affiliated with the IOC) and son of Libyan leader Muammar al-Gaddafi, that "We [the Libyans] did not and will not invite the Zionist enemy to this championship."^[4]

Several prominent figures criticized FIDE over this matter, with both Grandmaster Boris Gulko, a Jew with joint American and Israeli citizenship, and Beatriz Marinello, president of the United States Chess Federation writing open letters to FIDE criticizing their handling of the issue.^[3]

On May 13, the Anti-Defamation League wrote to FIDE, saying it was "troubling" that Libya should be hosting the championships, and urging FIDE to ensure that Israeli players were treated equally. The letter raised concerns over the Libyans not allowing the coaches and families of Israeli players into the country.^[5] Similar concerns were expressed in an Association of Chess Professionals (ACP) open letter of May 26^[6] (the ACP also criticized several other aspects of the tournament's organization).

FIDE maintained throughout that Israeli players would have been issued with visas upon their arrival in Libya. This assurance was never put to the test, however: none of the qualified players took part in the championship and Boris Gulko, who has joint American and Israeli citizenship, withdrew from the event after initially indicating he would play (fellow Americans Alexander Shabalov and Alexander Onischuk also withdrew in sympathy with the concerns of Gulko and others^[7]). 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.^[8] 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.^[9] Milov took his case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Tribunal Arbitral de Sport) in Lausanne^[10] 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." Milov later responded to this decision in an open letter.^[11]

It was also reported that the Israeli chess federation was considering suing FIDE "for compensation for the damages incurred by our exclusion from this tournament".^[12]

As a result of these and other factors, many of the players who were invited to take part in the tournament – including world number two Viswanathan Anand, and number six Peter Svidler – declined. In addition, Kasparov, Kramnik and Lékó did not take part owing to them being involved at a later stage of the reunification process. This led to a somewhat weaker lineup than previous championships, with only three of the world's top ten accepting the invitation to play, and only two of those actually turning up to the event. This weakness has itself been a cause of controversy, with claims that any tournament with so many top players missing should not be considered a World Championship at all.

On May 28, FIDE published a list of participants in the championship which was billed as "final". However, changes were made following the withdrawal of Gulko, Shabalov and Onischuk. A later "final" list included players of a range of skills from Veselin Topalov (rated 2737 and number five in the world on the FIDE Elo rating list) down to Tarik Abulhul (rated just 2076). It included only three of the world's top ten.

The following are the 128 players included in this list in order of seeding (from highest ranked to lowest), with the country they represent and their FIDE Elo rating on the April 2004 list:

Four players — Morozevich, Milov, Shulman and Hjartarson — did not appear for their first round matches and were defaulted.

The tournament was played in the knock-out format which had become standard for FIDE championships in recent years. Rounds 1–5 consisted of two-game mini-matches; round six (the semi-finals) of four-game matches, and the final of a six-game match. These games were all played with a time control of 1 hour 30 minutes, plus an extra 15 minutes at move 40, and an increment of 30 seconds per move, starting with move one.

If the score at the end of a match was tied, tie-break games would be played. First, two games at a time control of 25 minutes for the whole game plus ten seconds increment per move. If the score was still tied, another two games would be played at a time control of five minutes with a ten-second increment per move. If the score was still tied after these four extra games, a single game of Armageddon Chess would be played where White had six minutes and Black had five, with no increment; White must win the game whereas Black only needed to draw.

All standard time control games began at 2:30 pm local time. Tie breaks began at 8:30 pm on the day of the last standard game, apart from tie-breaks for the semifinals which were played on 2:30 pm the day after the last standard game, and for the final which would be at 12:30 pm the day after the last standard game.

The Chief Arbiter for was Panagiotis Nikolopoulos.

	First round					Quarter-finals					Third round					Fourth round
	1	Veselin Topalov	2
	128	Tarik Abulhul	0
						1	Veselin Topalov	2
						64	Aleksander Delchev	0
	64	Aleksander Delchev	1½
	65	Aleksandr Galkin	½
											1	Veselin Topalov	1½
											33	Sergei Movsesian	½
	32	Predrag Nikolić	1½
	97	Péter Ács	2½
						97	Péter Ács	2
						33	Sergei Movsesian	4
	33	Sergei Movsesian	2½
	96	Konstantin Landa	1½
																1	Veselin Topalov	2
																49	Zdenko Kožul	0
	16	Mikhail Gurevich	1½
	113	Darryl Johansen	½
						16	Mikhail Gurevich	½
						49	Zdenko Kožul	1½
	49	Zdenko Kožul	2
	80	Đào Thiên Hải	0
											49	Zdenko Kožul	2
											17	Sergei Rublevsky	0
	17	Sergei Rublevsky	3
	112	Ahmed Adly	1
						17	Sergei Rublevsky	3½
						48	Viorel Iordăchescu	2½
	48	Viorel Iordăchescu	1½
	81	Ivan Morovic Fernandez	½

	First round					Quarter-finals					Third round					Fourth round
	8	Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu	1½
	121	Ronald Dableo	½
						8	Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu	1½
						72	Sergei Tiviakov	½
	57	Gabriel Sargissian	3
	72	Sergei Tiviakov	4
											8	Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu	2½
											25	Shakhriyar Mamedyarov	1½
	25	Shakhriyar Mamedyarov	3
	104	Valeriy Neverov	1
						25	Shakhriyar Mamedyarov	4
						40	Smbat Lputian	3
	40	Smbat Lputian	2
	89	Merab Gagunashvili	0
																8	Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu	3
																73	Andrei Kharlov	4
	9	Ivan Sokolov	2
	120	Amon Simutowe	0
						9	Ivan Sokolov	½
						73	Andrei Kharlov	1½
	56	Rustem Dautov	1½
	73	Andrei Kharlov	2½
											73	Andrei Kharlov	1½
											88	Rafael Leitão	½
	24	Krishnan Sasikiran	0
	105	Leonid Kritz	2
						105	Leonid Kritz	½
						88	Rafael Leitão	1½
	41	Zhang Zhong	½
	88	Rafael Leitão	1½

	First round					Quarter-finals					Third round					Fourth round
	4	Alexander Grischuk	1½
	125	Kenny Solomon	½
						4	Alexander Grischuk	2
						61	Vasilios Kotronias	0
	61	Vasilios Kotronias	2½
	68	Giorgi Kacheishvili	1½
											4	Alexander Grischuk	4
											36	Valerij Filippov	2
	29	Loek van Wely	3
	100	Alexander Ivanov	1
						29	Loek van Wely	2
						36	Valerij Filippov	4
	36	Valerij Filippov	1½
	93	Daniel Cámpora	½
																4	Alexander Grischuk	3½
																20	Alexander Beliavsky	2½
	13	Vadim Milov
	116	Das Neelotpal	w/o
						116	Das Neelotpal	1½
						77	Ashot Anastasian	2½
	52	Bu Xiangzhi	½
	77	Ashot Anastasian	1½
											77	Ashot Anastasian	½
											20	Alexander Beliavsky	1½
	20	Alexander Beliavsky	2½
	109	Alexei Barsov	1½
						20	Alexander Beliavsky	2½
						45	Mikhail Kobalia	1½
	45	Mikhail Kobalia	1½
	84	Sergey Karjakin	½

	First round					Quarter-finals					Third round					Fourth round
	5	Vasyl Ivanchuk	2
	124	Adlane Arab	0
						5	Vasyl Ivanchuk	3
						69	Pentala Harikrishna	1
	60	Jun Xu	1½
	69	Pentala Harikrishna	2½
											5	Vasyl Ivanchuk	1½
											28	Rustam Kasimdzhanov	2½
	28	Rustam Kasimdzhanov	2½
	101	Alejandro Ramírez	1½
						28	Rustam Kasimdzhanov	1½
						92	Ehsan Ghaem Maghami	½
	37	Rafael Vaganian	0
	92	Ehsan Ghaem Maghami	2
																28	Rustam Kasimdzhanov	2
																44	Zoltán Almási	0
	12	Ye Jiangchuan	2½
	117	Carlos Garcia Palermo	1½
						12	Ye Jiangchuan	4
						76	Ni Hua	3
	53	Evgeny Vladimirov	3
	76	Ni Hua	4
											12	Ye Jiangchuan	½
											44	Zoltán Almási	1½
	21	Francisco Vallejo Pons	3½
	108	Rodrigo Vasquez	2½
						21	Francisco Vallejo Pons	1½
						44	Zoltán Almási	2½
	44	Zoltán Almási	2
	85	Mohammed Al-Modiahki	0

	First round					Quarter-finals					Third round					Fourth round
	2	Alexander Morozevich
	127	Abobker Elarbi	w/o
						127	Abobker Elarbi	0
						66	Pavel Smirnov	2
	63	Lázaro Bruzón	1½
	66	Pavel Smirnov	2½
											66	Pavel Smirnov	4
											34	Levon Aronian	3
	31	Giovanni Vescovi	1½
	98	Gadir Guseinov	2½
						98	Gadir Guseinov	0
						34	Levon Aronian	2
	34	Levon Aronian	2½
	95	Magnus Carlsen	1½
																66	Pavel Smirnov	2½
																18	Teimour Radjabov	3½
	15	Étienne Bacrot	2
	114	Pascal Charbonneau	0
						15	Étienne Bacrot	1½
						50	Darmen Sadvakasov	½
	50	Darmen Sadvakasov	2
	79	Pavel Kotsur	0
											15	Étienne Bacrot	1½
											18	Teimour Radjabov	2½
	18	Teimour Radjabov	2
	111	Mateusz Bartel	0
						18	Teimour Radjabov	4
						47	Peter Heine Nielsen	3
	47	Peter Heine Nielsen	2
	82	Surya Ganguly	0

	First round					Quarter-finals					Third round					Fourth round
	7	Vladimir Malakhov	1½
	122	Kivanc Haznedaroglu	½
						7	Vladimir Malakhov	3
						58	Leinier Domínguez	4
	58	Leinier Domínguez	2½
	71	Ernesto Inarkiev	1½
											58	Leinier Domínguez	2
											39	Vladislav Tkachiev	0
	26	Alexander Graf	2
	103	Dibyendu Barua	0
						26	Alexander Graf	½
						39	Vladislav Tkachiev	1½
	39	Vladislav Tkachiev	w/o
	90	Yury Shulman
																58	Leinier Domínguez	2½
																10	Alexey Dreev	1½
	10	Alexey Dreev	2
	119	Mohamed Tissir	0
						10	Alexey Dreev	2
						74	Rubén Felgaer	0
	55	Baadur Jobava	3
	74	Rubén Felgaer	4
											10	Alexey Dreev	4
											23	Konstantin Sakaev	3
	23	Konstantin Sakaev	1½
	106	Dimitrios Mastrovasilis	½
						23	Konstantin Sakaev	2
						87	Šarūnas Šulskis	0
	42	Bartłomiej Macieja	½
	87	Šarūnas Šulskis	1½

	First round					Quarter-finals					Third round					Fourth round
	3	Michael Adams	2
	126	Hussein Asabri	0
						3	Michael Adams	1½
						62	Karen Asrian	½
	62	Karen Asrian	2½
	67	Evgenij Agrest	1½
											3	Michael Adams	1½
											99	Hichem Hamdouchi	½
	30	Alexander Motylev	½
	99	Hichem Hamdouchi	1½
						99	Hichem Hamdouchi	4
						94	Sergey Kudrin	3
	35	Jóhann Hjartarson
	94	Sergey Kudrin	w/o
																3	Michael Adams	1½
																83	Hikaru Nakamura	½
	14	Zurab Azmaiparashvili	3
	115	Morteza Mahjoob	1
						14	Zurab Azmaiparashvili	1½
						51	Alexander Lastin	2½
	51	Alexander Lastin	1½
	78	Robert Kempiński	½
											51	Alexander Lastin	½
											83	Hikaru Nakamura	1½
	19	Aleksej Aleksandrov	1½
	110	Essam El Gindy	½
						19	Aleksej Aleksandrov	½
						83	Hikaru Nakamura	1½
	46	Sergei Volkov	1
	83	Hikaru Nakamura	3

First round

Quarter-finals

Third round

Fourth round

6

Nigel Short

2

123

Hameed Mansour Ali Kadhi

0

6

Nigel Short

½

59

Michał Krasenkow

1½

59

Michał Krasenkow

1½

70

Gilberto Milos

½

59

Michał Krasenkow

1½

27

Vadim Zvjaginsev

½

27

Vadim Zvjaginsev

2

102

Darcy Lima

0

27

Vadim Zvjaginsev

2½

91

Aleksander Wojtkiewicz

1½

38

Kiril Georgiev

½

91

Aleksander Wojtkiewicz

1½

59

Michał Krasenkow

½

11

Vladimir Akopian

1½

11

Vladimir Akopian

1½

118

José González García

½

11

Vladimir Akopian

1½

75

Utut Adianto

½

54

Evgeny Alekseev

½

75

Utut Adianto

1½

11

Vladimir Akopian

1½

43

Alexander Moiseenko

½

22

Viktor Bologan

3

107

Mark Paragua

1

22

Viktor Bologan

1½

43

Alexander Moiseenko

2½

43

Alexander Moiseenko

1½

86

Sergey Dolmatov

½

Round 1 games were played on June 19 and June 20, with tie-breaks on the evening of June 20. Four of the sixty-four scheduled round one matches games did not take place at all: Morozevich, Milov, Shulman and Hjartarson all failed to appear for their first game; their opponents (Elarbi, Neelotpal, Tkachiev and Kudrin) progressed into round two by default. Top seed Topalov had problems with his flight into Libya, and the start of his first game had to be postponed until 5 pm. The seeding system in operation, whereby the top seed plays the bottom seed, the number 2 plays number 127, number 3 plays number 126 and so on, meant that serious round one upsets were unlikely, and indeed there were few surprises. Several of the top players, among them Ye (seeded 12), Azmaiparashvili (14) and Rublevsky (17) required the first pair of tie-break games to advance, and Vallejo Pons (21) only went through after the two five-minute games, but in the end, all progressed as expected. The biggest first-round upset in terms of rating difference was Kritz (rated 2534 and seeded 105) knocking out Sasikiran (2659 / 24) by winning both standard games. Apart from the defaults, he and Hamdouchi (who beat Motylev) were the only players to overcome a rating difference of more than 100 points to advance to round two.

Round 2 games were played on June 21 and June 22, with tie-breaks on the evening of June 22. Round two saw one major upset and a number of smaller ones. The big surprise was Nigel Short (6) being knocked out by Michał Krasenkow (59). In game one, Short (with white) had the advantage of rook for knight and pawn and was trying to squeeze a win out of it when, after around five hours of play, the position in the diagram arose. Short played the blunder 121.Re6??, and resigned a move later. He obtained a slight advantage in game two, but it wasn't enough to win, and the draw knocked him out of the competition. Other upsets included Sokolov (9) losing out to Kharlov (73), Malakhov (7) being knocked out by Domínguez (58) in the last tie-breaker and Azmaiparashvili (14) losing to Lastin (51). Most of the top players had little difficulty, however: Topalov (1), Adams (3), Grischuk (4), Nisipeanu (8), and Dreev (10) all progressed after the first two games. Ivanchuk (5) required tie-breakers, but still advanced to round three as expected.

Round 3 games were played on June 23 and June 24, with tie-breaks on the evening of June 24. The surprise of round three was Ivanchuk (5) being knocked out by Kasimdzhanov (28). The two standard time control games had been fairly quiet affairs and were both drawn (the second, with Kasimdzhanov white, after just 16 moves) and the first rapid game was also drawn. In the second, Ivanchuk, despite having white, did little to press for a win, and the fairly level position shown arose. 21. Bxb7 Qxb7 appears to be equal, but Ivanchuk instead played 21.Rc1?, which simply lost a pawn to 21...Qxa3. Ivanchuk resigned six moves later, in a position which was certainly worse but from which many players would have at least tried to play on. Ivanchuk has something of a reputation for being let down by his nerves, and this may have been another instance of that. Elsewhere, there were minor surprises when Krasenkow (59) followed up on his victory over Short to eliminate Zvjaginsev (27), 16-year-old Nakamura (83) – the youngest player remaining in the tournament – dispatched Lastin (51), and Grischuk (4) required the blitz tie-breakers to see off Filippov (36). Kozul's (49) win over Rublevsky (17) took his score for the event to 5½/6, with a Performance rating of over 3000. Top seeds Topalov (1) and Adams (3) advanced with little difficulty, winning their games with white and drawing with black.

After a rest day on June 25, the Round 4 games were played on June 26 and June 27, with tie-breaks on the evening of June 27. Two surprise results occurred when Kharlov (73) and Domínguez continued their impressive runs by knocking out Nisipeanu (8) and Dreev (10), respectively, both recording their second win against a top 10 player in the tournament.

	Round 5: Quarterfinals (best of 2)					Round 6: Semifinals (best of 4)					Round 7: Final (best of 6)
	1	Veselin Topalov	2
	73