★★★ INTRO ★★★

The 1993 FIDE World Chess Championship was between 42 year old Anatoly Karpov of Russia and 41 year old Jan Timman of the Netherlands.

★★★ QUALIFICATION ★★★

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, Kasparov and Short would split away from FIDE to form the Professional Chess Association (PCA). Therefore, the two players that Short most recently defeated (Karpov and Timman) faced off for the FIDE WCC.

★★★ CONDITIONS ★★★

Games 1-3 took place in Zwolle (Netherlands). Games 4-6 took place in Arnhem (also Netherlands). Games 7-12 took place in Amsterdam, while the rest took place in Jakarta. The match was a best of 24, with the first to 12 1/2 points being the winner. If it's tied 12-12, a maximum of 4 2-game matches would be played afterwards. Game 1 took place on September 6th, 1993.

★★★ FINAL ★★★

Karpov was leading 12-7 after 19 games and needed just a draw in the next 5 games to clinch it. After he lost game 20 with white, he eventually sealed the deal by drawing the next game. Although many regarded Kasparov as the true champion, Karpov still had a title to brag about.

★★★ MINI TABLE ★★★

Karpov 1 0 1/2 1/2 1/2 1 1/2 1/2 1/2 1 1/2 1/2 1/2 1 1 1 1/2 1/2 1/2 0 1/2 (7 wins, 11 draws, 2 losses) <59.5% score>

Timman 0 1 1/2 1/2 1/2 0 1/2 1/2 0 1/2 1/2 1/2 0 0 0 1/2 1/2 1/2 1 1/2 (2 wins, 11 draws, 7 losses) <40.5% score>

★★★ OTHER LINKS ★★★

See also: Karpov - Timman FIDE World Championship Match (1993)

Head to Head Record Prior to 1993: http://www.chessgames.com/perl/ches... (25 wins, 40 draws and 7 losses in favour of Karpov)

Previous World Championship: Game Collection: 1993 Classical World Chess Championship

Next "FIDE" Championship: Game Collection: 1996 FIDE World Chess Championship

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