★★★ INTRO ★★★

The 1996 FIDE World Chess Championship was between 45 year old defending champion Anatoly Karpov of Russia and 22 year old challenger Gata Kamsky of the United States.

★★★ QUALIFICATIONS ★★★

Like before, a huge interzonal tournament was held. 74 (73 excluding Esam Aly Ahmed who forfeited after Round 1) players participated in the Swiss system tournament, with the top 10 advancing (see Game Collection: 0 for games and more info). They were Boris Gelfand (9/13), Paul van der Sterren, Gata Kamsky, Alexander Khalifman, Michael Adams, Leonid Yudasin, Valery Salov, Joel Lautier, Vladimir Kramnik (all 8.5/13) and Viswanathan Anand (8/13), who edged out Vladimir Epishin, Smbat Lputian, Alexey Shirov, Vasyl Ivanchuk and Ivan Sokolov on tiebreaks.

The above 10 were by FIDE champion Karpov (who was seeded into the semi-finals), Jan Timman (loser of the last WCC match) and Artur Yusupov (lost to Timman in the Candidates final match).

In Round 1, the 6 matches were a best of 8, with rapid tiebreaks to follow if necessary. In this round, Kamsky beat van der Sterren 4 1/2-2 1/2, Anand beat Yusupov by the same score (see Game Collection: WCC Index (Anand-Yusupov 1994) for games), Timman beat Lautier 4 1/2-3 1/2 (see Game Collection: WCC Index (Timman-Lautier 1994) for games), Salov beat Khalifman 5-1 (see Game Collection: WCC Index (Salov-Khalifman 1994) for games), Gelfand beat Adams 5-3 (see Game Collection: WCC Index (Gelfand-Adams 1994) for games), and Kramnik beat Yudasin 4 1/2-2 1/2.

In Round 2, (also best of 8), Kamsky defeated Anand 6-4 in rapid tiebreaks, Salov edged Timman 4 1/2-3 1/2 (see Salov - Timman Candidates Semifinal (1994) for games and more info), and Gelfand beat Kramnik by the same score (see Gelfand - Kramnik Candidates Semifinal (1994) for games and more info).

In Round 3, Kamsky and Salov would face each other in a now best of 10, while Gelfand faced reigning champion Karpov. Kamsky whitewashed Salov 5 1/2-1 1/2 while Karpov beat Gelfand 6-3 (see Game Collection: WCC Index (Karpov-Gelfand 1995) for games). Kamsky and Karpov would face each other in the championship match.

★★★ CONDITIONS ★★★

The match took place in Elista. It was a best of 20 games. If tied after 20 games, 2-game mini matches would be played until one side lead. Game 1 was played on June 6th, 1996.

★★★ FINAL ★★★

Game 18 was played on July 18th, 1996. Entering Round 18, Karpov had a 10-7 lead and needed just a draw in the remaining 3 games to avoid a tiebreak and retain his title. He would do so.

★★★ MINI TABLE ★★★

Karpov 1 0 1/2 1 1/2 1 1 1/2 1 0 1/2 1/2 1/2 1 1/2 0 1/2 1/2 (6 wins, 9 draws and 3 losses) <58.8% score>

Kamsky 0 1 1/2 0 1/2 0 0 1/2 0 1 1/2 1/2 1/2 0 1/2 1 1/2 1/2 (3 wins, 9 draws and 6 losses) <41.2% score>

★★★ OTHER LINKS ★★★

See also: Karpov - Kamsky FIDE World Championship Match (1996)

Head to Head Record Prior to 1996: http://www.chessgames.com/perl/ches... wins, 7 draws and 4 losses in favour of Karpov)

Previous "FIDE" World Championship: Game Collection: 1993 FIDE World Chess Championship

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

Next "FIDE" World Championship: Game Collection: 1998 FIDE World Chess Championship

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