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FIDE World Championship Preview

Eight of the worlds top players, including current FIDE World Champion Rustam Kasimdzhanov, will meet in San Luis Argentina to play in the FIDE World Chess Championship beginning September 27th. The tournament will determine FIDE's next champion, and boasts a prize pool of $1,000,000 - $300,000 of which will go to the winner.

Joining Kasimdzhanov are seven of the world's top grandmasters. Michael Adams was invited as the runner-up from the previous world championship; Peter Leko earned his spot as a participant in the last Classical World Championship, where he lost to Vladimir Kramnik.

The remaining players were taken from the FIDE rating list: Viswanathan Anand, Veselin Topalov, Judit Polgar, Alexander Morozevich and Peter Svidler. Perhaps the most notable absense is Kramnik, though this is hardly surprising; Kramnik has always defended his world championship in match play, and has struggled in tournament play as of late.

The tournament is a double round-robin format, meaning each player will play fourteen games. If there is a tie for first, the results between the players will be used as the first tiebreak; if the players are still tied, the one with the most wins during the tournament will take first. If a clear winner is still yet to emerge, a series of rapid games will be used to decide the winner.

With such a strong field it can be difficult to pick a favorite; all eight players have done enough to show they are capable of winning a tournament such as this one. Nonetheless, some players do stand out.

As the current World Champion, Kasimdzhanov has shown that he can play against the world's best players and win. However, it seems unlikely that he can thrive against such strong competition in a round-robin format - Kasimdzhanov, of course, won his title in knockout match play, often winning in rapid or blitz tiebreaks.

Morozovich, Polgar, Svidler and Adams have all won major tournaments before. Certainly it is possible for one of them to have a particularly strong result and contend for first. However, they are definite underdogs to the top contenders, as they will be unlikely to score well against the favorites: Leko, Topalov, and Anand.

Peter Leko has been consistantly strong in recent play, posting several major wins in the last few years, along with his excellent performance in his World Championship match against Kramnik. Leko, along with Kasimdzhanov, is one of the two youngest participants in the tournament. His stock is still on the rise, and he may someday be the top player in the world. However, he is still a step below both Anand and Topalov for the time being. Leko will be a factor, but may not be able to overcome the two higher rated players.

Viswanathan Anand has arguably been the most dominant player in chess over the last few years. He is tied with Topalov for the best rating among active players, is simply unbeatable in rapid play, and has been in contention at nearly every major tournament for the past five years. Anand will undoubtedly be at or near the top again, and would make a worthy World Champion.

Still, the favorite might be Veselin Topalov. He has been the hottest player as of late, moving quickly up the rating list to tie Anand at the top among active players (both are rated 2788). Topalov posted a convinicing first in the Mtel Masters in May, and took second at Dortmund. He is playing the best chess of his career and should be the man to beat at the World Championship.

We will be providing complete coverage of the FIDE World Championship from the first round to its conclusion on October 16th. For more information, you can click here for the FIDE page about the tournament.