★★★ INTRO ★★★

The 2004 Classical World Chess Championship was a match between 29 year old defending champion Vladimir Kramnik of Russia and challenger 25 year old Peter Leko of Hungary.

★★★ QUALIFICATIONS ★★★

After Kramnik had defeated Garry Kasparov in the 2000 WCC match (see Game Collection: 2000 Classical World Chess Championship for games and more info), it was time for Kramnik's first challenger.

To determine the challenger, the Dortmund/Sparkassen 2002 tournament was held as a candidates tournament. The 8 players were divided into 2 groups, and each group was a 4 player double round robin, with the top 2 advancing to the knockout stage. The first group consisted of Boris Gelfand, Christopher Lutz, Alexey Shirov and Veselin Topalov. Shirov and Topalov both scored 4/6. The second group consisted of Michael Adams, Evgeny Bareev, Peter Leko and Alexander Morozevich. Bareev advanced with 4/6, and Leko followed with 3.5/6.

Those 4 players advanced to a knockout stage, where the winner of one group would face the runner up of the other group. It was a best of 4, with 2 rapid games to follow if necessary. In the semi-finals, Leko defeated Shirov 2 1/2-1/2 while Topalov defeated Bareev 3 1/2-2 1/2 on tiebreaks. In the finals, Leko defeated Topalov 2 1/2-1 1/2 to earn the right to challenge Kramnik for the classical championship.

★★★ CONDITIONS ★★★

The match was played in Brissago, Switzerland. The match would be a best of 14, with the winner being the first to 7 1/2 points. If the match was tied 7-7, Kramnik would retain his title. Game 1 was played on September 25th, 2004.

★★★ NOTABLE GAMES ★★★

Game 1: Leko vs Kramnik, 2004

Game 8: Kramnik vs Leko, 2004

Game 13: Leko vs Kramnik, 2004

★★★ FINAL ★★★

Game 14 was played on October 8th, 2004. Entering the final game, Leko had a 7-6 lead and had black in the "armageddon" game: If Kramnik won, he retains his title; otherwise Leko wins the title, with both players receiving the same amount of time.

Game 14: Kramnik vs Leko, 2004

With the win, Kramnik had become just the 3rd world champion to retain his title by winning the final game, after Emanuel Lasker and Garry Kasparov (see Game Collection: 1910 World Chess Championship (first one) and Game Collection: 1986 World Chess Championship respectively for more games and info).

★★★ MINI TABLE ★★★

Kramnik 1 1/2 1/2 1/2 0 1/2 1/2 0 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 1 (2 wins, 2 losses, 10 draws) <50% score>

Leko 0 1/2 1/2 1/2 1 1/2 1/2 1 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 0 (2 wins, 2 losses, 10 draws) <50% score>

★★★ OTHER LINKS ★★★

See also: Kramnik - Leko Classical World Championship Match (2004)

Previous Head to Head Record Prior to 2004: http://www.chessgames.com/perl/ches... (6 wins, 5 losses and 33 draws in favour of Kramnik)

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

Next World Championship: Game Collection: 2006 World Chess Championship

Previous FIDE Championship: Game Collection: 2004 FIDE World Chess Championship

Next FIDE Championship: Game Collection: 2005 FIDE World Chess Championship