1999 FIDE World Championship Tournament: Day Three Results (Round 1 Playoffs)
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1999 FIDE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP TOURNAMENT
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Results from Day Three
Gulko advances; Shaked advances; Yermolinsky advances;
de Firmian, Kudrin, Benjamin, Gurevich, and A. Ivanov are eliminated.
Kamsky has a bye and automatically advances to Round 2
August 2 was the playoff for those who drew their two-game mini-matches in Round 1. When two players are tied at the end of the two games, then there is a play-off sequence on the third day of the round - August 2. (For information on play-off rules, see the official FIDE site
Nine Americans are competing in the event. Eight played in Round 1, and one has an automatic entry into Round 2. A total of 72 players are entered in Round 1, and 70 of them showed up and played. Imad Hakki of Syria and Amir Bagheri of Iran forfeited their matches in Round 1. The "winners" of these matches were Hichem Hamdouchi of Morocco and Rafael Leitao of Brazil. Vadim Milov defaulted in Round 1, but the default went to appeal and he will be playing his match today. He was a very late replacement player, originally seeded into the second round to replace Karpov, but at the last minute paired in Round 1.
American Results
GM Gata Kamsky (USA, 2720, the highest rated American player, receives a bye for Round 1 and is automatically seeded into Round 2. His first game will be Tuesday, August 3rd. Kamsky, a former World Championship Challenger, has been inactive for about two years while attending medical school.
GM Boris Gulko (USA, 2618), the #1 rated player on the US Chess Federation's Top 50 Lists of current active players, was one of only two Americans to score a win in Saturday's games. He then drew with GM Reinderman (NED, 2525) of the Netherlands to win their mini-match and advance to Round 2.
The other American scoring a full point on day one was 1997 World Junior Champion Tal Shaked (USA, 2471). He defeated GM Babula (CZE, 2567). However, Shaked probably tried too hard for a win on Sunday and ended up losing to his higher-rated opponent, leaving his mini-match tied at 1 - 1. He then went on to win his tie-break series on Monday, drawing the first game and winning the second. This was quite a nice upset for Tal; he was seeded number 91 out of 100, while Babula was seeded number 55.
>GM Yermolinsky (USA, 2588) drew with GM Spraggett (CAN, 2521) in both games and won the Monday tie-breaker, taking the first game and drawing the second to wrap up his Round 1 win.
GM Dmitri Gurevich (USA, 2537) drew with GM Tiviakov (RUS, 2611) on both days, and fought hard in the playoffs on Monday. He drew both Game/25 contests, losing the first and winning the second game/15, and drawing the first sudden death game before finally bowing in the sixth playoff game.
GM Joel Benjamin (USA, 2579), the 1997 US Champion, drew with GM Nielsen (DEN, 2560) in both games, and lost his tie-break series on Monday after a long, hard fight. His playoff also went to five games, with Joel losing the first game, winning the second, drawing the next two, and finally losing in the fifth playoff game.
The Yermolinsky, Benjamin, de Firmian, Gurevich, and Shaked playoff games are available in auto-play format (one diagram per move) with commentary from GM Rohde in our Games Archives. No Java is required to view these games. Note, however, that there were problems with the FIDE feeds for this day and not all games are current.
Current US Champion Nick de Firmian (USA, 2598) drew with GM Kobalija (RUS, 2573) on Saturday, but then lost on Sunday and was eliminated.
GM Alexander Ivanov (USA, 2515) lost to GM Milos (BRA, 2586) and could only manage a draw on Sunday, which knocked him out of the event.
GM Sergei Kudrin (USA, 2525) lost his first game to GM Sokolov (BIH, 2656) and drew the second, which also eliminated him from the event in this knock-out format.
Americans Playing in the Event
GM Gata Kamsky, 2720, seeded into Round 2. He will play GM Alexander Khalifmann (RUS, 2628)
GM Boris Gulko, 2618, advances. He will play GM Michal Krasenkow (POL, 2655) in the second round.
GM Alex Yermolinsky, 2588, advances. He will play GM Sergei Rublevsky (RUS 2685) in the second round.
1997 FIDE World Junior Champion, GM Tal Shaked, 2471, advances. He will play GM Kiril Georgiev (BUL, 2660) in the second round.
Current US Champion, GM Nick de Firmian, 2598, eliminated.
GM Joel Benjamin, 2579, eliminated.
GM Dmitri Gurevich, 2537, eliminated.
GM Sergei Kudrin, 2525, eliminated
GM Alexander Ivanov, 2515, eliminated
For Pairings, Schedule, and Other Information hit the back icon.