Classical World Chess Championship 2004

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Classical World Chess Championship 2004
 
Defending champion
Challenger
 
Vladimir Kramnik Vladimir Kramnik 06 08 2006.jpg
Vladimir Kramnik
Peter Leko Peter Leko 06 08 2006.jpg
Peter Leko
  Flag of Russia.svg Vladimir Kramnik Flag of Hungary.svg Peter Leko
 
7Scores7
  Born 25 June 1975
29 years old
Born 8 September 1979
25 years old
  Winner of the 2000 Classical World Chess Championship Winner of the 2002 Candidates Tournament
  Rating: 2770
(World No. 3) [1]
Rating: 2741
(World No. 5) [1]
  2000
2006  

The Classical World Chess Championship 2004 was held from September 25, 2004, to October 18, 2004, in Brissago, Switzerland. Vladimir Kramnik, the defending champion, played Peter Leko, the challenger, in a fourteen-game match.

Contents

The match ended 7–7, each player scoring two wins. Kramnik retained his title under the rules of the match. [2]

Background

Garry Kasparov's split from FIDE in 1993 resulted in two lines of world chess champions. There was the "Classical" world champion, the title that passes on to a player only when he beats the previous world champion. This was held by Kasparov, until he was defeated by Kramnik in the Classical World Chess Championship 2000. There was also the "Official" FIDE world champion who, at the time of this match, was Rustam Kasimdzhanov.

The split World Champion title led to calls for a reunification. After negotiations all parties agreed to the "Prague Agreement", whereby the winner of this match (the "Classical" World Champion) would play the winner of a match between Kasparov and the FIDE World Champion, and the winner would be the World Champion. These other matches never took place, but the titles were later unified at the FIDE World Chess Championship 2006.

The Candidates Tournament was held in July 2002, and was won by Peter Leko. However there were many delays in finding a sponsor for the Kramnik–Leko match, [3] and it was not played until September and October of 2004.

2002 Candidates Tournament

The July 2002 Dortmund Sparkassen Chess Meeting acted as the Candidates Tournament to determine the challenger to Kramnik's title. However, not all other top-ranked players were present. World number 1 Garry Kasparov declined his invitation, instead insisting that he deserved a rematch with Kramnik based on his tournament results in 2001. [4] Two others top 10 players — world number 3 and 2000 FIDE World Champion Viswanathan Anand, and world number 8 Vasyl Ivanchuk — declined their invitations out of loyalty to the rival FIDE world championship. [5] FIDE World Champion Ruslan Ponomariov (and world number 7) also did not participate. Apart from these four players and Kramnik, the competitors were the 7 highest rated players in the world, [6] [7] plus Christopher Lutz (44th in the world in the January 2002 list) as a player from the host country.

Leko won the Candidates Tournament: [8] [9] [10]

Group 1
Rating1234Total
1Flag of Spain.svg  Alexei Shirov  (Spain)2697-½ ½1 ½1 ½4
2Flag of Bulgaria.svg  Veselin Topalov  (Bulgaria)2745½ ½-½ 1½ 14
3Flag of Israel.svg  Boris Gelfand  (Israel)27100 ½½ 0-1 ½
4Flag of Germany.svg  Christopher Lutz  (Germany)26550 ½½ 00 ½-

Shirov won a two-game playoff 1½-½ to be placed first ahead of Topalov.

Group 2
Rating1234Total
1Flag of Russia.svg  Evgeny Bareev  (Russia)2726-1 0½ ½1 14
2Flag of Hungary.svg  Peter Leko  (Hungary)27220 1-½ 1½ ½
3Flag of England.svg  Michael Adams  (England)2752½ ½½ 0-½ ½
4Flag of Russia.svg  Alexander Morozevich  (Russia)27160 0½ ½½ ½-2

The top two from each group advanced to the knock-out stage where mini-matches (best of 4) were played, with a 2-game rapid chess playoff in the event of a tie.

Semifinals Final
      
1 Flag of Hungary.svg Peter Leko
4 Flag of Spain.svg Alexei Shirov ½
Flag of Hungary.svg Peter Leko
Flag of Bulgaria.svg Veselin Topalov
3 Flag of Bulgaria.svg Veselin Topalov
2 Flag of Russia.svg Evgeny Bareev

Topalov–Bareev was tied 2–2; Topalov won the rapid playoff 1½–½.

2004 Championship Match

Classical World Chess Championship Match 2004
Rating1234567891011121314Total
Flag of Hungary.svg  Peter Leko  (Hungary)2741 (+21)0½½½1½½1½½½½½07
Flag of Russia.svg  Vladimir Kramnik  (Russia)2770 (−29)1½½½0½½0½½½½½17

Highlights

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References

  1. 1 2 "Top 100 Players – July 2004". Ratings.fide.com.
  2. "Classical World Chess Championship 2004". Archived from the original on 2011-05-16. Retrieved 2006-09-30.
  3. THE WEEK IN CHESS 482, The Week in Chess, 2nd February 2004
  4. Kasparov turns down Braingames Qualifier, Garry Kasparov Press Release, September 6, 2001
  5. THE WEEK IN CHESS 392 13th May 2002, The Week in Chess
  6. THE WEEK IN CHESS 387 8th April 2002, The Week in Chess
  7. Top 100 Players January 2002 - Archive, FIDE
  8. 2002 Dortmund Candidates Tournament Archived 2017-04-01 at the Wayback Machine , Mark Weeks' Chess Pages
  9. THE WEEK IN CHESS 401 15th July 2002, The Week in Chess
  10. THE WEEK IN CHESS 402 22nd July 2002, The Week in Chess
  11. Game 1 report Archived 2008-07-19 at the Wayback Machine , The Week in Chess
  12. Game five: Peter Leko catches up, Chessbase, October 2, 2004
  13. Game 8: Brilliant Leko refutes Kramnik homework, Chessbase, October 7, 2004
  14. Game 12 Report Archived 2007-01-11 at the Wayback Machine , The Week in Chess
  15. Games 13: Leko survives Kramnik attack, Chessbase, October 16, 2004
  16. Round 14 Report Archived 2008-05-31 at the Wayback Machine , The Week in Chess
  17. Games 14: Kramnik wins to retain his title, Chessbase, October 19, 2004