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 1956 each played 8-game mini-matches against each other, with Rubtsova eventually clinching the title. Women's World Chess Championship 1956 The 1956 Women's World Chess Championship was won by Olga Rubtsova, who became the fourth women's champion. The Candidates Tournament was won by Rubtsova. Instead of her playing the defending champion Elisabeth Bykova, however, FIDE decided that the championship would be decided between the top three female players: Rubtsova, Bykova, and Lyudmila Rudenko, ex-champion and loser of the last title match. The Candidates Tournament was held in Moscow in October 1955. Rubtsova won narrowly, only half a point ahead of her closest