After Anatoly Karpov won yet another World Championship title in 1998, FIDE continued to organize its World Championship Cycle in the form of the Knockout Tournament. The next edition was scheduled in 1999. The tournament format was the same. It consisted of seven rounds.
Every round consisted out of a predetermined number of games played on longer time controls. If the score of the classical part of the match was drawn, the rapid tiebreak was held to determine the winner.
Compared to the previous edition, the defending champion Anatoly Karpov refused to participate. There were multiple reasons. First of all, the tournament was initially scheduled for 2000. He objected having to defend his title sooner than he anticipated. But more importantly, FIDE refused to grant him the benefits enjoyed in the previous edition. He was seeded in the second round, just like every other „strong“ player, instead.
(In 1998, Karpov was controversially seeded directly into the final where he met the exhausted Vishy Anand)
Therefore Karpov boycotted the event and sued FIDE for breaching the contract.
The Classical World Champion Kasparov and his potential opponent in the match, Viswanathan Anand, also refused to participate (the duo was intensively negotiating the terms and conditions regarding the potential Kasparov – Anand rematch). Kasparov was particularly dismissive. Just as the 5th round was about to start (quarterfinal) he had written the following on his blog:
„So, what do we have now? 3 tourists – Akopian, Movsesian and Nisipeanu. Due to the fact of the match between the first two one tourist will travel to the semifinal. Great trip to Las Vegas and good reason to visit Disneyland!
Unpredictable and spontaneous Judith, who is always dangerous for her opponents and sometimes for herself.
Two very strong players Adams and Khalifman both capable of upsetting any favorite.
And on top the main favorites of the event Kramnik and Shirov. The possibility of a new match between them looks now quite feasible though on the way to the final no victories are easy in KO championship.”
The opponents of the knock-out format called the tournament the gamble. They pointed out that short matches and fast tiebreaks increased the chance of „randomness“.
And indeed, 7 grueling rounds produced an unexpected winner – Alexandar Khalifman, who was only the 44th seed in the entire event. Even he stated that he doesn’t claim to be the world’s best player and many years later in an interview, he said the following:
”Thank you for your undoubtedly good intentions, but it never even came into my head to consider myself the equal of Steinitz. He defeated Zukertort, but I had to master Kamsky, Gelfand, and Polgar.
”In my perhaps uneducated opinion, a world chess champion should prove his superiority not only over one outstanding challenger but over others who are, perhaps, equally outstanding.”
”I do not idealize the knockout system and I do not even have any thought of considering myself a great chess player, but nevertheless the ideal system for awarding the world championship has not yet been invented.”
Sources:
New York Times: A Chess Match Is Waged For A World Title Whose Authenticity Is Challenged
Chessninja: And A Tourist Shall Lead Them