1997 in chess
Encyclopedia
Top players
FIDE top 10 players by Elo rating - January 1997- Garry KasparovGarry KasparovGarry Kimovich Kasparov is a Russian chess grandmaster, a former World Chess Champion, writer, political activist, and one of the greatest chess players of all time....
2795 - Viswanathan AnandViswanathan AnandV. Anand or Anand Viswanathan, usually referred as Viswanathan Anand, is an Indian chess Grandmaster, the current World Chess Champion, and currently second highest rated player in the world....
2765 - Anatoly KarpovAnatoly KarpovAnatoly Yevgenyevich Karpov is a Russian chess grandmaster and former World Champion. He was the official world champion from 1975 to 1985 when he was defeated by Garry Kasparov. He played three matches against Kasparov for the title from 1986 to 1990, before becoming FIDE World Champion once...
2760 - Vladimir KramnikVladimir KramnikVladimir Borisovich Kramnik is a Russian chess grandmaster. He was the Classical World Chess Champion from 2000 to 2006, and the undisputed World Chess Champion from 2006 to 2007...
2740 - Vassily Ivanchuk 2740
- Veselin TopalovVeselin TopalovVeselin Aleksandrov Topalov is a Bulgarian chess grandmaster. He currently has the sixth highest rating in the world, and was the challenger facing world champion Viswanathan Anand in the World Chess Championship 2010, losing the match 6½–5½....
2725 - Gata KamskyGata KamskyGata Kamsky is a Soviet-born American chess grandmaster, and the current World Rapid Chess Champion. He is also the current United States Chess Champion. As of September 2011, he is rated No. 1 in the United States and No...
2720 - Boris GelfandBoris GelfandBoris Abramovich Gelfand is a Belarus-born Israeli chess Grandmaster. He won the 2011 Candidates Tournament and will challenge Viswanathan Anand for the World Chess Championship 2012.-Biography:...
2700 - Alexei ShirovAlexei ShirovAlexei Dmitrievich Shirov is a Soviet-born Latvian chess grandmaster. He has consistently ranked among the world's top players since the early 1990s, and reached a ranking as high as number four in 1998...
2690 - Nigel ShortNigel ShortNigel David Short MBE is an English chess grandmaster earning the title at the age of 19. Short is often regarded as the strongest English player of the 20th century as he was ranked third in the world, from January 1988 – July 1989 and in 1993, he challenged Garry Kasparov for the World Chess...
2690
Chess news in brief
- Viswanathan AnandViswanathan AnandV. Anand or Anand Viswanathan, usually referred as Viswanathan Anand, is an Indian chess Grandmaster, the current World Chess Champion, and currently second highest rated player in the world....
wins FIDE's new knockout-style World Chess ChampionshipWorld Chess ChampionshipThe World Chess Championship is played to determine the World Champion in the board game chess. Men and women of any age are eligible to contest this title....
qualifier in Groningen at the end of the year. He then has just 2 days before play commences with Anatoly KarpovAnatoly KarpovAnatoly Yevgenyevich Karpov is a Russian chess grandmaster and former World Champion. He was the official world champion from 1975 to 1985 when he was defeated by Garry Kasparov. He played three matches against Kasparov for the title from 1986 to 1990, before becoming FIDE World Champion once...
for the world title in LausanneLausanneLausanne is a city in Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland, and is the capital of the canton of Vaud. The seat of the district of Lausanne, the city is situated on the shores of Lake Geneva . It faces the French town of Évian-les-Bains, with the Jura mountains to its north-west...
. - Alisa Galliamova-IvanchukAlisa GalliamovaAlisa Galliamova is a Russian chess player, who was born to Russian father and Tatar mother. She holds the FIDE titles Woman Grandmaster and International Master. In 1988 she won the World Junior Girls Chess Championship...
wins the FIDE Women's Candidates TournamentCandidates TournamentThe Candidates Tournament is a chess tournament organized by the world chess federation FIDE since 1950, as the final contest to determine the challenger for the World Chess Championship...
in Groningen. - Garry KasparovGarry KasparovGarry Kimovich Kasparov is a Russian chess grandmaster, a former World Chess Champion, writer, political activist, and one of the greatest chess players of all time....
loses to chess supercomputer Deeper Blue in a controversial rematch (2½-3½). Afterwards, IBMIBMInternational Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...
announce that they are scrapping the machine. The contest is subsequently made the subject of the 2003 documentary film Game Over: Kasparov and the MachineGame Over: Kasparov and the MachineGame Over: Kasparov and the Machine is a 2003 documentary film by Vikram Jayanti about the match between Garry Kasparov, the highest rated chess player in history and the World Champion for 15 years , and Deep Blue, a chess-playing computer created by IBM...
. - Kasparov, Vladimir KramnikVladimir KramnikVladimir Borisovich Kramnik is a Russian chess grandmaster. He was the Classical World Chess Champion from 2000 to 2006, and the undisputed World Chess Champion from 2006 to 2007...
, and Peter SvidlerPeter SvidlerPeter Veniaminovich Svidler is a Russian chess grandmaster.He is six-time Russian champion ....
finish in a 3-way tie at the Fontys tournament, TilburgTilburgTilburg is a landlocked municipality and a city in the Netherlands, located in the southern province of Noord-Brabant.Tilburg municipality also includes the villages of Berkel-Enschot and Udenhout....
(all 8/11). - Kasparov wins a double round contest at Novgorod with a 6½/10 score and sweeps to victory at the Linares chess tournamentLinares chess tournamentThe Linares International Chess Tournament , is an annual chess tournament, usually played around the end of February, takes its name from the city of Linares in the Jaén province of Andalusia, Spain, in which it is held...
by a score of 8½/11 (from Kramnik, 7½/11). - Kramnik is the winner at DortmundDortmundDortmund is a city in Germany. It is located in the Bundesland of North Rhine-Westphalia, in the Ruhr area. Its population of 585,045 makes it the 7th largest city in Germany and the 34th largest in the European Union....
SparkassenDortmund Sparkassen Chess MeetingThe Dortmund Sparkassen Chess Meeting is an elite chess tournament held every summer in Dortmund, Germany.Dortmund is an invite-only event, and only the strongest grandmasters are invited...
with 6½/11 (from Anand, 5½/11). - The Investbanka Tournament, BelgradeBelgradeBelgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...
is won by Anand and Vassily Ivanchuk (both 6/9). - Anand and Kramnik share the honours at Dos HermanasDos HermanasDos Hermanas is a Spanish city south of Seville in Andalusia, with a population of 125,086 as of 2010.The city's name, which means "two sisters", dates from its founding in 1248 by King Ferdinand III of Castile and honours the sisters of Gonzalo Nazareno, one of the king's principal military...
(both 6/9). - Veselin TopalovVeselin TopalovVeselin Aleksandrov Topalov is a Bulgarian chess grandmaster. He currently has the sixth highest rating in the world, and was the challenger facing world champion Viswanathan Anand in the World Chess Championship 2010, losing the match 6½–5½....
and Alexei ShirovAlexei ShirovAlexei Dmitrievich Shirov is a Soviet-born Latvian chess grandmaster. He has consistently ranked among the world's top players since the early 1990s, and reached a ranking as high as number four in 1998...
share victory at Madrid with 6½/9. - Anand wins the 30th Biel Chess Festival in Switzerland (7/10).
- Valery SalovValery SalovValery Salov is a Russian chess grandmaster.Salov was awarded the International Master title in 1984 and the Grandmaster title in 1986. He was the World under-17 Champion in 1980 and European Junior Champion in 1983-84...
wins the Wijk aan ZeeWijk aan ZeeWijk aan Zee is a small town on the coast of the North Sea in the municipality of Beverwijk in the province of North Holland of the Netherlands. The prestigious Tata Steel chess tournament formerly Corus chess tournament and before that called Hoogovens tournament takes place there every year.Due...
, Corus chess tournamentCorus chess tournamentThe Tata Steel Chess Tournament formerly called the Corus chess tournament takes place every year, usually in January, in a small town called Wijk aan Zee, part of the larger Beverwijk in the province of North Holland in the Netherlands...
with 8½/13. - The European Team ChampionshipEuropean Team ChampionshipThe European Team Championship is an international team chess event, eligible for the participation of European nations whose chess federations are located in zones 1.1 to 1.9...
, held in PulaPulaPula is the largest city in Istria County, Croatia, situated at the southern tip of the Istria peninsula, with a population of 62,080 .Like the rest of the region, it is known for its mild climate, smooth sea, and unspoiled nature. The city has a long tradition of winemaking, fishing,...
, is won by England, on tie-break from Russia. England's Matthew SadlerMatthew Sadler (chess player)Matthew Sadler is an International Grandmaster of chess, and a chess writer.Sadler won the British Championship in 1995 at the age of 21 and again in 1997...
posts an outstanding 7/9 score, which echoes his performance at last year's Chess OlympiadChess OlympiadThe Chess Olympiad is a biennial chess tournament in which teams from all over the world compete against each other. The event is organised by FIDE, which selects the host nation.-Birth of the Olympiad:The first Olympiad was unofficial...
. The bronze medal goes to ArmeniaArmeniaArmenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...
. In the Women's event, Georgia take gold, from Romania (silver) and England (bronze). - Alexander ShabalovAlexander ShabalovAlexander Shabalov is an American chess grandmaster, the multiple winner of the U.S. Chess Championships; he was the 2007 US Champion. He was born in Latvia, and like his fellow Latvians Alexei Shirov and Mikhail Tal he is known for courting complications even at the cost of objective soundness...
wins the World Open, Philadelphia, scoring 8/9. - Michael Adams and Sadler tie in the British Chess ChampionshipBritish Chess ChampionshipThe British Chess Championship is organised by the English Chess Federation. There are separate championships for men and women. Since 1923 there have been sections for juniors, and since 1982 there has been an over-sixty championship. The championship venue usually changes every year and has been...
held at HoveHoveHove is a town on the south coast of England, immediately to the west of its larger neighbour Brighton, with which it forms the unitary authority Brighton and Hove. It forms a single conurbation together with Brighton and some smaller towns and villages running along the coast...
. Harriet HuntHarriet HuntHarriet Vaughan Hunt is an English chess player and four times British Ladies' champion.-Biography:A high profile player from an early age, she won five British Junior Girls titles between 1989 and 1991...
is the Ladies Champion. - Joel BenjaminJoel BenjaminJoel Benjamin is an American chess Grandmaster. In 1998, he was voted "Grandmaster of the Year" by the U.S. Chess Federation. , his Elo rating was 2576, making him the No. 12 player in the U.S. and the 214th-highest rated player in the world.-Life and career:Benjamin is a native of Brooklyn, New...
wins the (InterplayInterplayInterplay may refer to:* Interplay , a 1957 album by jazz musician John Coltrane* Interplay , Jerome Robbins, 1945* Interplay , a 1962 album by jazz musician Bill Evans...
) U.S. Chess ChampionshipU.S. Chess ChampionshipThe U.S. Chess Championship is an invitational tournament held to determine the national chess champion of the United States. Since 1936, it has been held under the auspices of the U.S. Chess Federation. Until 1999, the event consisted of a round-robin tournament of varying size...
in ArizonaArizonaArizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
. Esther EpsteinEsther EpsteinEsther Epstein is an United States chess player and systems manager, who has won the U.S. Women's Chess Champion in 1991 and 1997. She holds a Woman International Master title....
wins the U.S. Women's Chess ChampionshipU.S. Women's Chess ChampionshipThe U.S. Women's Chess Championship tournament is to determine the woman chess champion of the United States.-List of U.S. Women's Chess Champions:*1937 Adele Rivero*1938 Mona May Karff*1940 Adele Rivero*1941 Mona May Karff*1942 Mona May Karff...
. - Alex YermolinskyAlex YermolinskyAlex Yermolinsky is an American chess Grandmaster. In 1993, Yermolinsky won the U.S. Chess Championship, tying for first place with Alexander Shabalov...
wins 98th U.S. OpenU.S. Open Chess ChampionshipThe U.S. Open Championship is an open national chess championship that has been held in the United States annually since 1900.-History:Through 1938, the tournaments were organized by the Western Chess Association and its successor, the American Chess Federation .The United States Chess Federation ...
in OrlandoOrlando, FloridaOrlando is a city in the central region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat of Orange County, and the center of the Greater Orlando metropolitan area. According to the 2010 US Census, the city had a population of 238,300, making Orlando the 79th largest city in the United States...
, Florida. (10½/12). - Julian HodgsonJulian HodgsonJulian Michael Hodgson is an English International Grandmaster and former British Champion of chess.He first came to the notice of the chess world for his phenomenal prowess as a junior; he was London under-18 champion at 12 years of age and won the British Boys under-21 title aged just...
wins the Canadian OpenCanadian Open Chess ChampionshipThe Canadian Open Chess Championship is Canada's Open chess championship, first held in 1956, and held annually since 1973, usually in mid-summer. It is organized by the Chess Federation of Canada....
at WinnipegWinnipegWinnipeg is the capital and largest city of Manitoba, Canada, and is the primary municipality of the Winnipeg Capital Region, with more than half of Manitoba's population. It is located near the longitudinal centre of North America, at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers .The name...
. - Grandmasters John NunnJohn NunnJohn Denis Martin Nunn is one of England's strongest chess players and once belonged to the world's top ten. He is also a three times world champion in chess problem solving, a chess writer and publisher, and a mathematician....
, Mark HebdenMark HebdenMark Hebden is an English chess player who holds the title Grandmaster.Hebden was British Rapidplay Chess Champion in 1990, 1994, 2001, 2005 and 2009....
and Eduardas RozentalisEduardas RozentalisEduardas Rozentalis is a Lithuanian chess grandmaster.He played for the Lithuanian team at first board in seven Chess Olympiads in 1992–98, and 2002–06....
tie for first at the Hastings International Chess CongressHastings International Chess CongressThe Hastings International Chess Congress is an annual chess congress which takes place in Hastings, England, around the turn of the year. The main event is the Hastings Premier tournament, which was traditionally a 10 to 16 player round-robin tournament. In 2004/05 the tournament was played in the...
. - Tal ShakedTal ShakedTal Shaked is an American chess grandmaster, who is best known for winning the World Junior Championship in 1997....
wins the World Junior Chess ChampionshipWorld Junior Chess ChampionshipThe World Junior Chess Championship is an under-20 chess tournament organized by the World Chess Federation ....
held at ŻagańZaganZagan may refer to:*Zagan - a demon in the Ars Goetia*Żagań - a town in west Poland...
in Poland. The girls' event is won by Harriet HuntHarriet HuntHarriet Vaughan Hunt is an English chess player and four times British Ladies' champion.-Biography:A high profile player from an early age, she won five British Junior Girls titles between 1989 and 1991...
. - Janis KlovansJanis KlovansJānis Klovāns was a Latvian chess Grandmaster. He was a career officer in the Soviet Army.Jānis Klovāns won the Latvian Championship nine times , and participated in several Soviet Championships...
of LatviaLatviaLatvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden...
wins the 7th World Senior Chess ChampionshipWorld Senior Chess ChampionshipThe World Senior Chess Championship is an annual chess tournament established in 1991 by FIDE, the World Chess Federation.Participants must have reached 60 years old on 1 January of the year of the event...
, Germany. The victory earns him the GM title at age 62. - Jonathan MestelJonathan MestelAndrew Jonathan Mestel is Professor of applied mathematics at Imperial College London who works on magnetohydrodynamics and biological fluid dynamics...
gains his Grandmaster title in Chess problemChess problemA chess problem, also called a chess composition, is a puzzle set by somebody using chess pieces on a chess board, that presents the solver with a particular task to be achieved. For instance, a position might be given with the instruction that White is to move first, and checkmate Black in two...
solving and becomes the first over-the-board (OTB) GM to do so. - Étienne BacrotÉtienne BacrotÉtienne Bacrot is a French chess grandmaster and currently ranked number one in France.He started playing at 4; by 10 young Bacrot was already winning junior competitions and in 1996, at 13 years of age, he won against Vasily Smyslov...
becomes the youngest Grandmaster ever at 14 years, 2 months, but later in the year loses his record to Ruslan PonomariovRuslan PonomariovRuslan Olegovich Ponomariov is a Ukrainian chess player and former FIDE World Champion.-Early career:Ponomariov was born in Horlivka in Ukraine. In 1994 he placed third in the World Under-12 Championship at the age of ten. In 1996 he won the European Under-18 Championship at the age of just...
, who achieves the same at 14 years, 1 month. - Luke McShaneLuke McShaneLuke James McShane is an English chess player. A former World Youth Champion and prodigious talent in chess, he has become one of England's leading players and a member of the Olympiad team. He has also been a trader in London's financial sector.- Early career :McShane won the World Under-10...
becomes an International Master at 13 years, 2 months. - Jennifer ShahadeJennifer ShahadeJennifer Shahade is an American chess player and writer. She is a two-time American women's chess champion and, as of October 2007, has a FIDE rating of 2322. She has the FIDE title of Woman Grandmaster. Jennifer is the author of the book Chess Bitch...
becomes the youngest ever female U.S. Master at 15 years, 11 months. - GM Joël LautierJoel LautierJoël Lautier is a French chess grandmaster and FIDE Senior Trainer .Born in Canada, of French father and Japanese mother, Lautier is one of the strongest grandmasters from France. He won the 1988 World Junior Chess Championship on tiebreak at Adelaide, and the French Chess Championships in 2004...
marries Woman Grandmaster (WGM) Almira SkripchenkoAlmira SkripchenkoAlmira Skripchenko is a French chess player who has achieved the FIDE International Master and Woman Grandmaster titles...
. - The PCAProfessional Chess AssociationThe Professional Chess Association , which existed between 1993 and 1996, was a rival organisation to FIDE, the international chess organization...
rating list is published: Kasparov - 2827; Kramnik - 2774; Anand - 2765 …
Deaths
- Miguel NajdorfMiguel NajdorfMiguel Najdorf was a Polish-born Argentine chess grandmaster of Jewish origin, famous for his Najdorf Variation....
, leading Argentinian (formerly Polish) Master and World Championship Candidate - July 4 - Erich EliskasesErich EliskasesErich Gottlieb Eliskases was a chess Grandmaster of the 1930s and 1940s, who represented Austria, Germany and Argentina in international competition....
, leading Argentinian (formerly Austrian/German) Master of the 1930s and 40s - February 2 - Alvis VitolinsAlvis VitolinšAlvis Vītoliņš was a Latvian chess master.Awarded the International Master title in 1980, he was Latvian Champion in 1973 , 1976, 1977, 1978, 1982, 1983 and 1985...
, Latvian IM and seven times winner of the national championship - February 16 - Walter KornWalter KornWalter Korn was an author of books and magazine articles about chess. Despite his status as a writer, there is no known record of him playing tournament chess, and few chess players ever met him...
, former U.N. Relief and Rehabilitation Administrator and renowned chess writer - July 9