★★★ INTRO ★★★

The 1999 FIDE World Chess Championship was between 33 year old Alexander Khalifman of Russia and 28 year old Vladimir Akopian of Azerbaijan.

★★★ QUALIFICATIONS ★★★

For the second year in a row, FIDE decided to have a knockout tournament to decide the champion. Last championship (see Game Collection: 1998 FIDE World Chess Championship for games and more info), defending champion Anatoly Karpov had the benefit of being directly seeded into the final round. However, this time around he didn't have that big of an advantage. He ended up withdrawing.

100 players would compete in the knockout tournament. The first 5 rounds (up to the quarter-finals) were best of 2 matches, with tiebreaks to follow if necessary, while the semi-finals were best of 4. 72 players competed in the first round (minus 2 forfeits), while 28 started in Round 2. (see Game Collection: 1999 - FIDE World Championship KO Tournament for games and more info)

Khalifman beat Dibyendu Barua 3 1/2-2 1/2, Gata Kamsky 2 1/2-1 1/2, Karen Asrian 1 1/2-1/2, Boris Gelfand 2 1/2-1 1/2, Judit Polgar by the same score and Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu 3 1/2-2 1/2 to reach the finals.

Meanwhile, Akopian beat Maia Chiburdanidze 1 1/2-1/2, Rogelio Antonio Jr 2 1/2-1/2, Evgeny Bareev by the same score, Vladimir Georgiev 1 1/2-1/2, Sergei Movsesian 2 1/2-1 1/2 and Michael Adams 2 1/2-1 1/2 to set up a Khalifman-Akopian final.

★★★ CONDITIONS ★★★

The match would take place in Las Vegas. It was just 6 games, with the winner being the first one to 3 1/2 points. Game 1 was played on August 22nd, 1999.

★★★ NOTABLE GAMES ★★★

Game 1: V Akopian vs Khalifman, 1999

Game 3: V Akopian vs Khalifman, 1999

Game 4: Khalifman vs V Akopian, 1999

★★★ FINAL ★★★

Game 6 was played on August 28th, 1999. Heading into the game, Khalifman had the white pieces and needed just a draw to clinch the FIDE title.

Game 6: Khalifman vs V Akopian, 1999

With the draw, Khalifman had become the new FIDE champion.

★★★ MINI TABLE ★★★

Khalifman 1 1/2 0 1 1/2 1/2 (2 wins, 1 loss, 3 draws) <58.3% score>

Akopian 0 1/2 1 0 1/2 1/2 (1 win, 2 losses and 3 draws) <41.7% score>

★★★ OTHER LINKS ★★★

See also: FIDE World Championship Knockout Tournament (1999)

Head to Head Record Prior to 1999: http://www.chessgames.com/perl/ches... (2 wins, 0 losses and 6 draws in favour of Khalifman)

Previous FIDE Championship: Game Collection: 1998 FIDE World Chess Championship

Next FIDE Championship: Game Collection: 2000 FIDE World Chess Championship

Previous Classical Championship: Game Collection: 1995 Classical World Chess Championship

Next Classical Championship: Game Collection: 2000 Classical World Chess Championship