★★★ INTRO ★★★

The 1993 "Classical" World Chess Championship was between 30 year old "defending champion" Garry Kasparov of Russia and 28 year old challenger Nigel Short of England.

★★★ QUALIFICATIONS ★★★

After Kasparov defended his title from Anatoly Karpov for the 3rd time in a row, Karpov was looking to make it 6 straight WCC meetings.

Previously, round robins were how interzonal tournament winners were determined, but this time, one swiss system tournament was held. 64 players participated in all 13 rounds (except Valery Salov and Praveen Mahadeo Thipsay of India, who both withdrew after 7 rounds, scoring of 3.5/7 and 1/7 respectively) and the top 11 advanced. They were Boris Gelfand and Vasyl Ivanchuk (each with 9/13), Viswanathan Anand and Nigel Short (both with 8.5/13), and Gyula Sax, Viktor Korchnoi, Robert Huebner, Predrag Nikolic, Leonid Yudasin, Sergey Dolmatov and Aleksey Dreev all had 8/13. 9 players missed out with 7.5/13 (see Manila Interzonal (1990) for games and more info).

Those top 11 were joined by the final 4 from the previous candidates tournament (Karpov, Jonathan Speelman, Jan Timman and Artur Yusupov). The Round of 16 and "Elite 8" rounds were best of 8, with rapid tiebreaks to follow if necessary.

In the semi-quarter finals, Timman beat Hübner 4 1/2-2 1/2 (see Game Collection: Timman - Huebner, WCC 1991 for games), Korchnoi beat Sax 5 1/2-4 1/2 in rapid tiebreaks (see Game Collection: Korchnoi - Sax, WCC 1991 for games), Yusupov beat Dolmatov 6 1/2-5 1/2 also in rapid tiebreaks (see Game Collection: 1991 Yusupov - Dolmatov match for games and more info), Ivanchuk beat Yudasin 4 1/2-1/2, Short beat Speelman 5 1/2-4 1/2 in tiebreaks (see Game Collection: Short - Speelman, WCC 1991 for games), Gelfand beat Nikolić 5 1/2-4 1/2 (see Game Collection: Gelfand - Nikolic, WCC 1991 for games) and Anand beat Dreev 4 1/2-1 1/2 (see Game Collection: Anand - Dreev, WCC 1991 for games). Karpov received a first round bye.

In the 2nd round of knockout matches, Timman beat Korchnoi 4 1/2-2 1/2 (see Game Collection: WCC Index (Timman-Korchnoi 1991) for games), Yusupov beat Ivanchuk 5 1/2-4 1/2 in rapid tiebreaks (see Game Collection: WCC Index (Yusupov-Ivanchuk 1991) for games), Short beat Gelfand 5-3 (see Game Collection: WCC Index (Short-Gelfand 1991) for games) and Karpov beat Anand 4 1/2-3 1/2 (see Game Collection: WCC Index (Karpov-Anand 1991) for games).

With just 4 players remaining, the rounds were expanded to best of 10. Timman beat Yusupov 6-4 (Game Collection: WCC Index (Timman-Yusupov 1992) for games) and Short beat Karpov by the same score.

In the finals (best of 14), Short beat Timman 7 1/2-5 1/2 to earn the right to challenge Kasparov's title.

However, the winner wouldn't be a FIDE champion, as Kasparov and Short both split from FIDE to form the Players Chess Association (PCA). The winner would be the PCA or "Classical" champion.

★★★ CONDITIONS ★★★

The match would take place in London. It was a best of 24, with the winner being the first to 12 1/2 points. If it is tied, the defending champion (Kasparov) would retain his title, and split the money. Game 1 was played September 7th, 1993.

★★★ FINAL ★★★

Game 20 was played sometime in October 1993. Entering the round, Kasparov led 12-7, and needed just a draw with black to retain his title. If he fails, he would still have 4 more games to win up 0.5 (already clinched at least half of prize money). He wasted no time, and drew Game 20.

★★★ MINI TABLE ★★★

Kasparov 1 1/2 1 1 1/2 1/2 1 1/2 1 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 1 0 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 (6 wins, 13 draws and 1 loss) <62.5% score>

Short 0 1/2 0 0 1/2 1/2 0 1/2 0 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 0 1 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 (1 win, 13 draws and 6 losses) <37.5% score>

★★★ OTHER LINKS ★★★

See also: Kasparov - Short PCA World Championship Match (1993)

Head to Head Record Prior to 1993: http://www.chessgames.com/perl/ches... (17 wins, 4 draws and 5 losses in favour of Kasparov)

Previous World Championship: Game Collection: 1990 World Chess Championship

Next "Classical" World Championship:
Game Collection: 1995 Classical World Chess Championship

Next "FIDE" World Championship: Game Collection: 1993 Classical World Chess Championship