Classical World Chess Championship 2000

Background

Following the split in the world chess championship in 1993, there were two rival world titles: the official FIDE world title, and the PCA world title held by Garry Kasparov. The rationale behind Kasparov's title was that he had not been defeated in a match, but in fact had defeated the rightful challenger Nigel Short in 1993, so FIDE had no power to strip the title from him.

The PCA then held Interzonal and Candidates matches from 19931995, and Kasparov successfully defended his PCA title in 1995 against Viswanathan Anand.

The PCA folded in 1996. The initial contract with Intel had expired. Kasparov was looking for a new sponsor, but had not 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.

Candidates match

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, Anand and Vladimir Kramnik were clearly the next two best players in the world, and that they would play a match to decide who would challenge for Kasparov's title.

Anand, however, as a participant in the FIDE world championship cycle, believed he was contractually obligated to not participate in a rival cycle and declined the offer. So instead a match was organised between Kramnik and Alexei Shirov, from 24 May to 5 June 1998 in Cazorla, Spain. Shirov was chosen because he was next in the PCA rating list, and because of his strong performance at the Linares 1998 super tournament.

Despite being the underdog, Shirov won the match with two wins, seven draws and no losses.

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Negotiations

However, during 1998 Kasparov, Shirov and sponsors were unable to come to an agreement. Shirov rejected one offer of a match in California, but believed rejecting this offer did not mean waiving his rights for a match. In December 1998, there was still talk of organising a KasparovShirov match.

In February 1999, Kasparov abandoned plans for a match with Shirov and pursued a match with Anand instead, on the basis that Anand was second to Kasparov on the ratings list. Negotiations for a 1999 match failed, as did negotiations in 2000, with Anand expressing dissatisfaction with the contract. In March 2000 it was announced that negotiations with Anand had failed and so Kasparov would negotiate a match with the next player in the ratings list—Kramnik. This time negotiations were successful, and the company Braingames was formed, headed by Raymond Keene, to finance a Kasparov-Kramnik match in October 2000.

Shirov was aggrieved, and even in 2006 maintained that Kramnik was not a valid world champion. However, most supporters of Kasparov's title believe that, despite the unsatisfactory way in which a challenger was chosen, nevertheless the winner of this match would be the true World Champion. Kramnik had a far better record against Kasparov than Shirov did (a point Kasparov emphasised when the match was announced in April 2000). In the years that followed, Kasparov maintained an overwhelming plus score in his individual games against Shirov.

Championship Match

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Match games

Commentary

|tright | Berlin Defence after 8... Kxd8 |rd| |bd|kd| |bd| |rd |pd|pd|pd| | |pd|pd|pd | | |pd| | | | | | | | | |pl|nd| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |nl| | |pl|pl|pl| | |pl|pl|pl |rl|nl|bl| | |rl|kl| | This position occurred four times—in games 1, 3, 9 and 13—and each time Kramnik (black) was able to draw.}} According to Kasparov, Kramnik's victory stemmed from his superior opening preparation. He relied on the Berlin Defence of the Ruy Lopez to defuse Kasparov's 1.e4, an opening Kasparov was not prepared for.

Kramnik also won Game 2 with a new idea for White in Kasparov's favourite Grünfeld Defence, which Kramnik discovered during training with Boris Gelfand a year before the match. He won Game 10 due to deep knowledge of 4.e3 variation by Joël Lautier and Evgeny Bareev, his seconds; that variation was chosen because of Kasparov's unimpressive score with it. He also came close to winning Games 4 and 6 with white.

Yasser Seirawan remarked that he had no explanation for the result except that Kramnik played the best chess of his life, and also that he personally knew that Kasparov was going through a divorce which might have affected his game.

Aftermath

The Berlin defense surged in popularity after this match, becoming a reliable drawing weapon.

Kramnik defended his title in the Classical World Chess Championship 2004 against Peter Leko. The world championship remained split until 2006, when Kramnik defeated FIDE champion Veselin Topalov in a reunification match, becoming the undisputed world chess champion.

References

References

1. "Top 100 Players – October 2000". Ratings.fide.com.
2. Due to the sponsorship by Braingames, the match was known at the time as the Braingames World Chess Championships. Kramnik would later refer to the title as the "Classical" World Championship, hence this 2000 match was also a match for the "Classical" title.
3. [http://theweekinchess.com/html/twic308.html The Week in Chess 308] {{Webarchive. link. (15 November 2018 2 October 2000)
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5. Garry Kasparov. ''Deep Thinking''.
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9. [https://theweekinchess.com/html/twic181.html The Week in Chess 181] {{Webarchive. link. (18 August 2024 , [[The Week in Chess]], 27 April 1998)
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14. [http://theweekinchess.com/html/twic200.html The Week in Chess 200] {{Webarchive. link. (28 October 2017 , 7 September 1998 (Also contains a statement at the time from Kasparov))
15. [http://theweekinchess.com/html/twic215.html The Week in Chess 215] {{Webarchive. link. (28 June 2017 , 21 December 1999, "Kasparov in England")
16. [http://theweekinchess.com/html/twic223.html The Week in Chess 223] {{Webarchive. link. (15 November 2018 , 15 February 1999 – "The reality is that nobody wants to organize such a match. Potential sponsors are much more interested in a match between the number 1 and 2 chess players: Kasparov & Anand." – Kasparov)
17. [http://theweekinchess.com/html/twic254.html The Week in Chess 254] {{Webarchive. link. (17 February 2020 , 20 September 1999)
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22. link. (8 August 2007 , [[Alexei Shirov]], [[Chessbase]], 4 May 2006)
23. [http://theweekinchess.com/html/twic283.html The Week in Chess 283] {{Webarchive. link. (23 March 2015 , 10 April 2000)
24. link. (1 October 2007 , Kasparov's lifetime score against Shirov is 15 wins, 14 draws and no losses.)
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27. (29 October 2020). "Владимир Крамник рассказывает о легендарном матче с Гарри Каспаровым! Интервью четвёртое.".
28. [https://theweekinchess.com/html/twic310.html The Week in Chess 310], 16th October 2000
29. [https://theweekinchess.com/html/twic311.html The Week in Chess 311], 23rd October 2000
30. (20 December 2020). "Seirawan on Kasparov-Kramnik 2000".
31. Emmett, Ryan. (2008-08-09). "The Berlin Wall Grows Higher in Sochi". Chess.com.