FIDE World Chess Championship 2004 FIDE World Chess Championship 2004 The FIDE World Chess Championship 2004 was held at the Almahary Hotel in Tripoli, Libya, from June 18 to July 13. It was won by Rustam Kasimdzhanov, who beat Michael Adams in the final by a score of 4½–3½. He won about US$100,000 and the title of FIDE World Chess Champion. The intention was that the tournament winner would play world number one Garry Kasparov in a step towards the reunification of the World Chess Championship, which had been split into two separate titles since the World Chess Championship 1993. However, that match never took
World Chess Championship the winner playing a match against the champion for the title. These have followed a 2-year cycle: qualification for the Candidates in the odd year, the Candidates tournament early in the even year, and World Championship match late in the even year. Magnus Carlsen defeated Anand in the World Chess Championship 2013. Carlsen has successfully defended his title thrice, against Anand in the World Chess Championship 2014, against Sergey Karjakin in the World Chess Championship 2016, and against Fabiano Caruana in the World Chess Championship 2018. His last two defences were decided by tie-break in rapid games. Before 1948 world