The Classical World Chess Championship 2004 was held from September 25, 2004 - October 18, 2004 in Brissago, Switzerland. Vladimir Kramnik, the defending champion, played Peter Leko, the challenger, in a fourteen game match.
The match ended 7-7, each player scoring two wins. Kramnik retained his title under the rules of the match.
Background
After winning against Kasparov, Kramnik was widely considered as the "true" World Champion. Kasparov was still topping the rating list, but Kramnik's performances in this period were also excellent. On July 2001 FIDE rating list, Kramnik became the second person to surpass the 2800 rating mark. Kasparov and chess public expected a rematch, but Kramnik declined, saying that rematches are the thing from the past, and that before the match he and Kasparov signed that the loser won't get a rematch, but will enter the next World Championship cycle.During a press conference after the 2001 Corus tournament, Kasparov said of Kramnik:
"Winning the world title comes with certain responsibilities. The longer he waits, the less value his title will have. Kramnik may have some dreams of his own, but he has to take account of economic realities. Money does not grow on trees, or fall from the sky; he must take account of what people are willing to pay money for, and I believe that they are most willing to pay for a rematch between Kramnik and myself. Kramnik also has a moral obligation to play me, but it seems as if the new generation has little respect for moral obligations."
After reaching the peak by end of 2001, Kramnik "retired" from "serious" play for more than a year. He played against computers, played rapid, blitz and blinfold games, and some promotional matches. Because of that he was at first omited from the rating list due to inactivity (no rated games), but they later found out that he played 3 rated games in French Team league, so he just barely evaded the inactivity flag.
New cycle
Braingames announced that the 2002 Dortmund event would double as a Braingames candidates tournament:
"Garry Kasparov and Viswanathan Anand as well as four top players from the FIDE rating list (at the moment the event is held) will receive invitations. Another two slots will be contested in an Internet tournament. The participants of the main event will be divided into two groups, in which two double-round robins will be held. Two winners from each group are to play in the semifinals (2 games) and then the final (4 games). The winner of the final will challenge Kramnik in a 16-game match. Prize money will amount to at least 2,000,000 USD. This World Championship match will probably take place in Bahrain in October 2002."
As usual, this only remained at the paper. Soon after announcement Braingames were bought by Einstein Group who were now in charge of the World Championship match (now to be held in 2003). They kept the "Candidates" system but many top players declined or were unable to participate. Kasparov (#1) was still claiming that Kramnik "owes" him a rematch, and he had some falling out with Dortmund organizers years ago (that's why he never participated in Dortmund tournaments after 1995). Anand (#3) declined because of his contractual obligation to FIDE (player undertaking for 2001/2002 FIDE World Championship). For the same reason Ponomariov (#6) and Ivanchuk (#10) were not there either. Also Grischuk (#12) declined to participate, so the final field was much to be desired (final field of participants featured Christopher Lutz - #35 on the rating list).
"Candidates" were played in July 2002. First two from each group advanced to the semifinals. Semifinals and the final were "best of 4 games". In case of ties, rapid games were played.
Peter Leko won the "Candidates" to earn a Classical World Championship match with Kramnik, which should be played by end of 2002.
Just some personal opinion: Everybody criticised FIDE championships because not all the top players participated (with exception of 2004 edition, only 2 or 3 top players were missing), because matches were too short, and because it used rapid and blitz play-offs. But this "Candidates" that had all those top players missing (more than any FIDE championship, with exception of 2004), also had very short matches, and also used rapid games to break the ties, did produce the "true" challenger for the "true" World Champion??? Hmmm, I see some double standards here.
Soon after the Dortmund "Candidates" Einstein Gruop fell into financial troubles and were eventually unable to organize the Classical World Championship match between Kramnik and Leko. So the match got postponed further.
Prague Agreement
Beginning of 2002 Yasser Seirawan urged everybody to come to some sort of agreement to reunify the chess world. After some back and forth the main actors sat down and came to the agreement on how to unify the title. On May 6th, 2002 they signed the so-called Prague Agreement. In Prague Agreement both titles were recognized - Kramnik recognized Ponomariov as the FIDE World Champion, and FIDE recognized Kramnik as a Classical World Champion. To unify the title, Kramnik will play a Classical World Championship match against the winner of Dortmund "Candidates" (which Leko later won), Ponomariov will play a FIDE World Championship match against Kasparov (#1 rated player), and the two winners will play for the unified title (which will again be under FIDE's control). According to the plan, the unification process should be completed by end of 2003.
However in reality by end of 2003 nothing happenend. Neither of the two "semifinal" matches were played. Kramnik vs. Leko was delayed due to lack of sponsors and was eventually played in last quarter of 2004. FIDE had even more problems with organizing their "semifinal". Ponomariov after back and forth negotiations eventually refused to play under the given terms with Kasparov so FIDE organized a new World Championship in 2004 just to find an opponent for Kasparov. In ill-fated championship in Libya Kasimdzhanov emerged as a winner, but the match with Kasparov never happened. There were no sponsors so the match was delayed several times. Also the potential venues were moved all over the world several times. Partly because of all this frustration, Kasparov decided to retire in March 2005, so the match never happened and the Prague Agreement was proclaimed dead.
Even long before Kasparov's retirement the Prague Agreement was shaky and there were back and forth discussions about it. Everybody had a different opinion about it.
In all this mess Kramnik finally managed to organize the match against Leko.
Players
Vladimir Borisovich Kramnik the reigning champion.
Peter Leko the challenger.
Match conditions:
- match was played from September 25th to October 18th, 2004 in Brissago, Switzerland.
- the time controls were 120 minutes for first 40 moves, followed by 60 minutes for next 20 moves, followed by 15 minutes for the rest of the game with 30 seconds per move increment starting with move 61
- best of 14 games
- in case of 7-7 tie, Kramnik keeps the title
The Match
Leko came as close as you can get to the World Champion title. He went into the last game only needing a draw, but Kramnik was up to the task and managed to win the last game to tie the match, thus retaining the classical title.
Impact on the future
This was to be the last Classical World Championship. Although the Prague Agreement never materialised, the chess world was nevertheless unified by end of 2006.
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