Professional Chess Association
Encyclopedia
The Professional Chess Association (PCA), which existed between 1993 and 1996, was a rival organisation to FIDE, the international chess
organization. The PCA was created in 1993 by Garry Kasparov
and Nigel Short
for the marketing and organization of their chess world championship.
won the Candidates Tournament
and so qualified as challenger to Garry Kasparov
for the World Chess Championship
.
By FIDE regulation, the bids for the World Championship final should have been decided by three parties - FIDE, the World Champion (Kasparov) and the Challenger (Short). According to Kasparov and Short, FIDE president Florencio Campomanes
broke these rules by simply announcing the venue of winning bid as being Manchester
. FIDE derived a substantial part of its income from the prize fund of the World Championship.
In response to this, Kasparov and Short formed the PCA, appointing Bob Rice as Commissioner. They played their world championship match under its auspices in October 1993. The match took place in the Savoy Theatre
in London
, under the sponsorship of The Times
. Kasparov won clearly 12.5-7.5 and became PCA World Chess Champion.
FIDE stripped Kasparov of the FIDE World Championship title, and instead held a rival match between Anatoly Karpov
and Jan Timman
, the two final players Short had defeated to win the Candidates Tournament
. Karpov won that match, to become FIDE World Chess Champion. For the first time in chess history there were two world champions, the FIDE world champion Karpov and the PCA world champion Kasparov.
tournament and Candidates
matches, in the style of the FIDE world championship qualifiers. FIDE also had its own cycle of qualifiers, with many of the same players playing in both. The PCA candidates cycle was won by the India
n GM
Viswanathan Anand
.
Kasparov defended his PCA World Championship title against Anand in the World Trade Center
in a match starting September 11, 1995. Kasparov won the 18 game match 10.5 - 7.5.
against IBM
's supercomputer Deep Blue earlier that year, which boosted the fame of IBM, a main rival of Intel's; the PCA folded soon afterwards. This left Kasparov unable to organise a proper qualifying cycle for his title. He finally played (and lost) a match to a hand picked challenger, Vladimir Kramnik
, in 2000 (Classical World Chess Championship 2000
). This match was played under the auspices of Braingames, which also appears to have folded.
When Kramnik defended his title at the Classical World Chess Championship 2004
, he gave the title the name "Classical", to emphasise the continuity that his title had with the tradition of defeating the previous titleholder. Since this is the same title as the Kasparov's PCA World title, the PCA World title is sometimes retrospectively called the "Classical" title.
The PCA split from FIDE was finally healed with the FIDE World Chess Championship 2006
, a re-unification match between Kramnik and 2005 FIDE World Champion Veselin Topalov
, which was won by Kramnik.
Chess
Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...
organization. The PCA was created in 1993 by Garry Kasparov
Garry Kasparov
Garry 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....
and Nigel Short
Nigel Short
Nigel 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...
for the marketing and organization of their chess world championship.
Formation
In 1993, Nigel ShortNigel Short
Nigel 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...
won the Candidates Tournament
Candidates Tournament
The 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...
and so qualified as challenger to Garry Kasparov
Garry Kasparov
Garry 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....
for the World Chess Championship
World Chess Championship
The 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....
.
By FIDE regulation, the bids for the World Championship final should have been decided by three parties - FIDE, the World Champion (Kasparov) and the Challenger (Short). According to Kasparov and Short, FIDE president Florencio Campomanes
Florencio Campomanes
Florencio Campomanes was a Filipino political scientist, chess player, and chess organizer.- Education :...
broke these rules by simply announcing the venue of winning bid as being Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
. FIDE derived a substantial part of its income from the prize fund of the World Championship.
In response to this, Kasparov and Short formed the PCA, appointing Bob Rice as Commissioner. They played their world championship match under its auspices in October 1993. The match took place in the Savoy Theatre
Savoy Theatre
The Savoy Theatre is a West End theatre located in the Strand in the City of Westminster, London, England. The theatre opened on 10 October 1881 and was built by Richard D'Oyly Carte on the site of the old Savoy Palace as a showcase for the popular series of comic operas of Gilbert and Sullivan,...
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, under the sponsorship of The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
. Kasparov won clearly 12.5-7.5 and became PCA World Chess Champion.
FIDE stripped Kasparov of the FIDE World Championship title, and instead held a rival match between Anatoly Karpov
Anatoly Karpov
Anatoly 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...
and Jan Timman
Jan Timman
Jan Timman is a Dutch chess Grandmaster who was one of the world's leading players from the late 1970s to the early 1990s. At the peak of his career he was considered to be the best non-Soviet player and was known as "The Best of the West"...
, the two final players Short had defeated to win the Candidates Tournament
Candidates Tournament
The 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...
. Karpov won that match, to become FIDE World Chess Champion. For the first time in chess history there were two world champions, the FIDE world champion Karpov and the PCA world champion Kasparov.
1995 cycle
From 1993 to 1995, the PCA held an InterzonalInterzonal
Interzonal chess tournaments were tournaments organized by FIDE, the World Chess Federation, and were a stage in the triennial World Chess Championship cycle.- Zonal tournaments :...
tournament and Candidates
Candidates Tournament
The 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...
matches, in the style of the FIDE world championship qualifiers. FIDE also had its own cycle of qualifiers, with many of the same players playing in both. The PCA candidates cycle was won by the India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n GM
International Grandmaster
The title Grandmaster is awarded to strong chess players by the world chess organization FIDE. Apart from World Champion, Grandmaster is the highest title a chess player can attain....
Viswanathan Anand
Viswanathan Anand
V. 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....
.
Kasparov defended his PCA World Championship title against Anand in the World Trade Center
World Trade Center
The original World Trade Center was a complex with seven buildings featuring landmark twin towers in Lower Manhattan, New York City, United States. The complex opened on April 4, 1973, and was destroyed in 2001 during the September 11 attacks. The site is currently being rebuilt with five new...
in a match starting September 11, 1995. Kasparov won the 18 game match 10.5 - 7.5.
Demise and aftermath
The PCA lost its main sponsor, Intel, in 1996, as retaliation for Kasparov's choice to play a matchDeep Blue versus Garry Kasparov
Deep Blue versus Garry Kasparov was a pair of famous six-game human-computer chess matches played between the IBM supercomputer Deep Blue and the World Chess Champion Garry Kasparov. The first match was played in February 1996 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Kasparov won the match 4–2, losing one...
against IBM
IBM
International 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...
's supercomputer Deep Blue earlier that year, which boosted the fame of IBM, a main rival of Intel's; the PCA folded soon afterwards. This left Kasparov unable to organise a proper qualifying cycle for his title. He finally played (and lost) a match to a hand picked challenger, Vladimir Kramnik
Vladimir Kramnik
Vladimir 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...
, in 2000 (Classical World Chess Championship 2000
Classical World Chess Championship 2000
The Classical World Chess Championship 2000, known at the time as the Braingames World Chess Championships, was held from October 8, 2000 – November 4, 2000 in London, United Kingdom. Garry Kasparov, the defending champion, played Vladimir Kramnik...
). This match was played under the auspices of Braingames, which also appears to have folded.
When Kramnik defended his title at the Classical World Chess Championship 2004
Classical World Chess Championship 2004
The Classical World Chess Championship 2004 was held from September 25, 2004 - October 18, 2004 in Brissago, Switzerland. Vladimir Kramnik, the defending champion, played Peter Leko, the challenger, in a fourteen game match....
, he gave the title the name "Classical", to emphasise the continuity that his title had with the tradition of defeating the previous titleholder. Since this is the same title as the Kasparov's PCA World title, the PCA World title is sometimes retrospectively called the "Classical" title.
The PCA split from FIDE was finally healed with the FIDE World Chess Championship 2006
FIDE World Chess Championship 2006
The World Chess Championship 2006 was a chess match between Classical World Chess Champion Vladimir Kramnik, and FIDE World Chess Champion Veselin Topalov. The match, which was won by Kramnik, determined the undisputed World Chess Champion for the first time in 13 years...
, a re-unification match between Kramnik and 2005 FIDE World Champion Veselin Topalov
Veselin Topalov
Veselin 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....
, which was won by Kramnik.