World Chess Championship a Kasparov match, either with 2002 FIDE champion Ponomariov, or 2004 FIDE champion Kasimdzhanov. Partly due to his frustration at the situation, Kasparov retired from chess in 2005, still ranked No. 1 in the world. Soon after, FIDE dropped the short knockout format for a World Championship and announced the FIDE World Chess Championship 2005, a double round robin tournament to be held in San Luis, Argentina between eight of the leading players in the world. However Kramnik insisted that his title be decided in a match, and declined to participate. The tournament was convincingly won by the Bulgarian Veselin
Women's World Chess Championship 1986 point, earning the right to challenge the reigning champion for the title. The championship match was played in Sofia in 1986. Once again, defending champion Chiburdanidze had no real problems. She beat challenger Akhmilovskaya with a comfortable margin of three points and retained her title. Women's World Chess Championship 1986 The 1986 Women's World Chess Championship was won by Maia Chiburdanidze, who successfully defended her title against challenger Elena Akhmilovskaya. As part of the qualification process, two Interzonal tournaments were held in June 1985, one in Havana and the other in Zeleznovodsk, featuring the best players from each FIDE zone.