Illinois Chess Bulletin Julio - Agosto 2002 | Page 14

From a Fresh Start to a new Dawn
championship cycles, could have proposed such a silly
format. The only possible explanation was financial.
The Dortmund event would be economical, quickly
producing a Challenger before moving on to a big
money world championship match final. I was
disappointed that the Dortmund event didn’t feature a
qualifying stage for rank and file grandmasters such as
myself. Unhappily for me, there would be no
opportunity to compete in Kramnik’s cycle and having
voluntarily withdrawn from FIDE’s cycle, I had no
chance to practice my craft.
Eligibility for the Dortmund/BGN tournament seemed
simple: the highest-rated players were invited. But
here the troubles began. Kasparov and Anand, the
world’s top and third ranked players respectively,
declined their invitations to Dortmund. Originally, the
world’s number nine ranked player, Vassily Ivanchuk,
accepted an invitation, only to be reminded by FIDE
Executives that as a finalist in the 2002 FIDE
championship he would be in violation of the contract,
which prohibited the final and semi-final players from
competing in rival world championships. Ivanchuk
withdrew from the Dortmund qualifier. Logic dictates
that the Dortmund organizers would continue moving
down the ranking list and invite a replacement for
Ivanchuk. Instead, they decided to invite a wild-card
player and tapped German Champion Christopher
Lutz. While I’m sure this was a popular decision
among German players, the organizing committee and
local sponsors, it is also quite shocking. Seeded into a
Candidates field of eight top players competing for the
highest title is an extraordinary gift for a player ranked
th
only 40 on the rating list.
I sum up now the situation in early 2002. Vladimir
th
Kramnik, as the 14 World Champion in a historic line
of title-holders extending back to Steinitz, suppo