Classical World Chess Championship 1995

Background

In 1993, the reigning FIDE World Chess Champion, Garry Kasparov decided to split from FIDE because he felt the organisation was corrupt, and formed a rival organisation, the PCA (Professional Chess Association). In response, FIDE stripped Kasparov of his status and organised an event to determine a new champion — this event was won by Anatoly Karpov.

Kasparov claimed that, as he had not been defeated by a challenger to his title in a match, and in fact had defeated the rightful challenger (Nigel Short in 1993), that he was still the reigning world champion. Thus, for the first time since the inaugural World Championship in 1886, there were two rival World Chess Championships.

The PCA ran a world championship cycle similar in format to that in use by FIDE at the time. It was to be the only full championship cycle run under the auspices of the PCA.

1993 Qualifying tournament

The PCA held a qualifying tournament and Candidates matches in 1993–1995. A number of leading players did not participate, most notably FIDE World Champion Anatoly Karpov. The events were held at a similar time as the FIDE World Chess Championship 1996, with many of the same players playing in both.

The Qualifying tournament in Groningen in December 1993 had 54 players participating in an 11-round Swiss system tournament, with the top seven qualifying for the Candidates Tournament.

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1994–95 Candidates Tournament

The top seven from the Qualifying tournament were joined by Nigel Short, the loser of the 1993 PCA championship match against Kasparov.

The first round of Candidates matches were best of eight games, the semifinals were best of 10, and the final was best of 12. If the scores were tied, sets of two rapid chess games were played as tie breakers, until one player had a lead.

The quarterfinal matches were held at the Trump Tower in New York City in June 1994 and opened by Donald Trump. The semifinals were played in Linares in September 1994, and the final in Las Palmas in March 1995.

| RD1-team1=USA Gata Kamsky | RD1-score1=4½ | RD1-team2=RUS Vladimir Kramnik | RD1-score2=1½ | RD1-team3=ENG Nigel Short | RD1-score3=6½ | RD1-team4=USA Boris Gulko | RD1-score4=5½ | RD1-team5=ENG Michael Adams | RD1-score5=7½ | RD1-team6=RUS Sergei Tiviakov | RD1-score6=6½ | RD1-team7=IND Viswanathan Anand | RD1-score7=5 | RD1-team8=UKR Oleg Romanishin | RD1-score8=2 | RD2-team1=USA Gata Kamsky | RD2-score1=5½ | RD2-team2=ENG Nigel Short | RD2-score2=1½ | RD2-team3=ENG Michael Adams | RD2-score3=1½ | RD2-team4=IND Viswanathan Anand | RD2-score4=5½ | RD3-team1=USA Gata Kamsky | RD3-score1=4½ | RD3-team2=IND Viswanathan Anand | RD3-score2=6½

1995 Championship match

The final was played at the World Trade Center, on the 107th floor of the South Tower.

The first player to reach 10½ points would be the winner.

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The match began with eight consecutive draws, a record for the World Chess Championship until the 2018 Carlsen–Caruana match. In game 9 Anand, with white, broke through Kasparov's Sicilian Scheveningen defence to win. Kasparov hit back immediately in game 10, with a novelty in the Ruy Lopez Open Defence.

Game 11 was arguably the turning point in the match. Kasparov sprung a major surprise by playing the Sicilian Dragon with black – a once-popular defence which at the time was only played at the top level by a few specialists. Anand missed a comparatively simple combination and lost. After a draw in game 12, Anand again played weakly against the Dragon in game 13, losing again with white to go two points down.

When Anand lost game 14, Kasparov had a commanding 8½-5½ lead and the match was effectively over. The players drew their remaining games.

References

References

1. The name "Classical" was not used at the time, but is the name generally used for the title since it was coined for the [[Classical World Chess Championship 2004]].
2. [http://www.mark-weeks.com/chess/9496piix.htm 1993 Groningen PCA Qualifying Tournament], Mark Weeks' Chess Pages
3. [http://www.mark-weeks.com/chess/9496pcix.htm 1994-95 PCA Candidates Matches], Mark Weeks' Chess Pages
4. [http://www.theweekinchess.com/html/twic358.html The Week in Chess 358], 17 September, 2001
5. [http://www.theweekinchess.com/html/twic53.html The Week in Chess 53], 15 October, 1995
6. [http://www.mark-weeks.com/chess/9496pwix.htm PCA World Chess Championship 1995] {{Webarchive. link. (2013-12-04 , Mark Weeks' Chess Pages)