FIDE World Chess Championship 1999

The FIDE World Chess Championship 1999 was held at Caesars Palace on the Las Vegas Strip between 31 July and 28 August 1999. The championship was won by Russian Alexander Khalifman, making him the FIDE World Chess Champion.

Format
The format was a knockout tournament of short matches. This was similar in style to that used at the FIDE World Chess Championship 1998, and had the same advantages and disadvantages.

A change from the 1998 championship was that incumbent champion (Anatoly Karpov) had no special privileges, other than that he (like a number of leading players) was seeded into the second round. In protest at this, Karpov refused to play.

Controversy and non-participants
In addition to Karpov, neither Garry Kasparov nor Viswanathan Anand took part. Kasparov, holder of a rival world championship title, refused to play in any of the FIDE knockout championships, and Anand was negotiating to play a match against Kasparov for his title. (This match never took place – see Classical World Chess Championship 2000).

Only three players in the top fifteen reached the quarterfinals and by the semifinals most of the favourites had been eliminated. Kasparov called three of the quarterfinalists "tourists", perhaps intending only to reflect the surprising results of the earlier rounds, but the remark raised some controversy.

Winner Khalifman was rated 44th in the world at the time, which some compared unfavourably to PCA champion Kasparov being ranked No. 1. Khalifman said after the tournament, "Rating system works perfectly for players who play only in round robin closed events. I think most of them are overrated. Organizers invite same people over and over because they have the same rating and their rating stays high." Perhaps in response, Khalifman was invited to the next Linares chess tournament, and performed creditably (though placing below joint winner Kasparov).

Participants

 * 1) 🇷🇺 Vladimir Kramnik (RUS), 2751
 * 2) 🇪🇸 Alexei Shirov (ESP), 2726
 * 3) 🇷🇺 Alexander Morozevich1 (RUS), 2723
 * 4) 🇺🇸 Gata Kamsky (USA), 2720
 * 5) 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Michael Adams (ENG), 2716
 * 6) 🇺🇦 Vassily Ivanchuk (UKR), 2714
 * 7) 🇷🇺 Peter Svidler (RUS), 2713
 * 8) 🇷🇺 Anatoly Karpov1 (RUS), 2710
 * 9) 🇧🇬 Veselin Topalov (BUL), 2700
 * 10) 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Nigel Short (ENG), 2697
 * 11) 🇭🇺 Peter Leko (HUN), 2694
 * 12) 🇮🇱 Boris Gelfand (ISR), 2691
 * 13) 🇷🇺 Sergei Rublevsky (RUS), 2684
 * 14) Zurab Azmaiparashvili, 2681
 * 15) 🇷🇺 Evgeny Bareev (RUS), 2679
 * 16) 🇭🇺 Judit Polgár (HUN), 2677
 * 17) Viktor Korchnoi, 2673
 * 18) 🇷🇺 Valery Salov (RUS), 2670
 * 19) Jan Timman, 2670
 * 20) 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Matthew Sadler (ENG), 2667
 * 21) 🇭🇺 Zoltán Almási (HUN), 2665
 * 22) 🇷🇺 Sergei Shipov (RUS), 2662
 * 23) 🇧🇬 Kiril Georgiev (BUL), 2659
 * 24) 🇷🇺 Vadim Zvjaginsev (RUS), 2658
 * 25) 🇮🇱 Ilya Smirin (ISR), 2652
 * 26) Alexander Beliavsky, 2650
 * 27) 🇨🇿 Sergei Movsesian (CZE), 2650
 * 28) 🇷🇺 Konstantin Sakaev (RUS), 2649
 * 29) 🇧🇾 Alexei Fedorov (BLR), 2648
 * 30) 🇵🇱 Michael Krasenkow (POL), 2643
 * 31) 🇦🇲 Vladimir Akopian (ARM), 2640
 * 32) 🇫🇷 Vladislav Tkachiev (FRA), 2634
 * 33) 🇷🇺 Sergei Tiviakov (RUS), 2627
 * 34) 🇧🇦 Ivan Sokolov (BIH), 2624
 * 35) 🇺🇸 Boris Gulko (USA), 2620
 * 36) 🇷🇺 Alexander Khalifman (RUS), 2616
 * 37) 🇺🇸 Nick DeFirmian (USA), 2610
 * 38) 🇩🇪 Matthias Wahls (GER), 2609
 * 39) 🇧🇾 Aleksej Aleksandrov (BLR), 2609
 * 40) 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Tony Miles (ENG), 2609
 * 41) 🇺🇦 Ruslan Ponomariov (UKR), 2609
 * 42) Utut Adianto, 2607
 * 43) 🇺🇿 Rustam Kasimdzhanov (UZB), 2606
 * 44) 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Jonathan Speelman (ENG), 2601
 * 45) 🇺🇸 Alex Yermolinsky (USA), 2597
 * 46) Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu, 2594
 * 47) 🇪🇪 Jaan Ehlvest (EST), 2593
 * 48) 🇺🇸 Joel Benjamin (USA), 2593
 * 49) 🇷🇺 Sergey Dolmatov (RUS), 2589
 * 50) 🇧🇷 Gilberto Milos (BRA), 2586
 * 51) 🇱🇹 Eduardas Rozentalis (LTU), 2577
 * 52) 🇦🇲 Karen Asrian (ARM), 2576
 * 53) 🇨🇳 Peng Xiaomin (CHN), 2574
 * 54) 🇮🇸 Hannes Stefánsson (ISL), 2569
 * 55) 🇨🇿 Vlastimil Babula (CZE), 2565
 * 56) 🇭🇺 Zsuzsa Polgar1 (HUN), 2565
 * 57) 🇮🇱 Lev Psakhis (ISR), 2564
 * 58) 🇲🇦 Hichem Hamdouchi (MAR), 2564
 * 59) Goran Dizdar, 2563
 * 60) Dragoljub Velimirović1, 2563
 * 61) 🇨🇾 Vasilios Kotronias (CYP), 2561
 * 62) 🇧🇷 Rafael Leitão (BRA), 2559
 * 63) Rogelio Antonio Jr., 2558
 * 64) 🇪🇸 Jordi Magem Badals (ESP), 2557
 * 65) Robert Zelcic, 2554
 * 66) 🇵🇱 Bartłomiej Macieja (POL), 2553
 * 67) Maia Chiburdanidze, 2551
 * 68) 🇦🇷 Alejandro Sergio Hoffman (ARG), 2547
 * 69) 🇺🇸 Dmitry Gurevich (USA), 2545
 * 70) 🇺🇸 Sergey Kudrin (USA), 2543
 * 71) Dimitri Reinderman, 2541
 * 72) 🇮🇳 Dibyendu Barua (IND), 2538
 * 73) 🇷🇺 Mikhail Kobalia (RUS), 2537
 * 74) 🇦🇱 Altin Cela (ALB), 2536
 * 75) 🇨🇺 Julio Becerra Rivero (CUB), 2535
 * 76) 🇸🇪 Ralf Åkesson (SWE), 2530
 * 77) 🇶🇦 Mohammed Al-Modiahki (QAT), 2530
 * 78) Daniel Fridman, 2529
 * 79) 🇫🇷 Christian Bauer (FRA), 2528
 * 80) 🇦🇷 Pablo Ricardi (ARG), 2527
 * 81) 🇨🇦 Kevin Spraggett (CAN), 2523
 * 82) Stefan Đurić, 2517
 * 83) Friso Nijboer, 2515
 * 84) Peter Heine Nielsen, 2515
 * 85) 🇰🇿 Pavel Kotsur (KAZ), 2511
 * 86) 🇺🇸 Alexander Ivanov (USA), 2505
 * 87) 🇦🇲 Levon Aronian (ARM), 2502
 * 88) Andrés Rodríguez, 2500
 * 89) 🇰🇿 Darmen Sadvakasov (KAZ), 2487
 * 90) 🇺🇦 Alexander Zubarev (UKR), 2478
 * 91) 🇺🇸 Tal Shaked (USA), 2477
 * 92) 🇪🇬 Esam Mohamed Ahmed Nagib (EGY), 2458
 * 93) 🇨🇴 Alonso Zapata (COL), 2454
 * 94) 🇸🇾 Imad Hakki2 (SYR), 2423
 * 95) 🇨🇳 Liang Chong (CHN), 2400
 * 96) Watu Kobese, 2389
 * 97) 🇹🇳 Slim Bouaziz (TUN), 2387
 * 98) Amir Bagheri2, 2368
 * 99) 🇷🇺 Alexander Kozak (RUS), 2330
 * 100) 🇦🇺 Vladimir Feldman (AUS), 2330

1 Morozevich, Karpov, Z. Polgar, and Velimirovic had to be replaced with the following players:
 * 🇷🇺 Alexey Dreev (RUS)
 * Vadim Milov
 * 🇸🇪 Ulf Andersson (SWE)
 * 🇫🇷 Joël Lautier (FRA)

2 Hakki and Bagheri did not appear due to the visa problems.

Championship final

 * {| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"

! !! Rating !! 1 !! 2 !! 3 !! 4 !! 5 !! 6 !! Points
 * +FIDE World Chess Championship Final 1999
 * align=left | 🇦🇲 Vladimir Akopian (ARM) || 2640
 * 0 ||style="background:black; color:white"| ½ || 1 ||style="background:black; color:white"| 0 || ½ ||style="background:black; color:white"| ½ || 2½
 * align=left | 🇷🇺 Alexander Khalifman (RUS) || 2616
 * style="background:black; color:white"| 1 || ½ ||style="background:black; color:white"| 0 || 1 ||style="background:black; color:white"| ½ || ½ || 3½
 * }
 * style="background:black; color:white"| 1 || ½ ||style="background:black; color:white"| 0 || 1 ||style="background:black; color:white"| ½ || ½ || 3½
 * }