Classical World Chess Championship 1995 and formed a rival organisation, the PCA (Professional Chess Association). In response, FIDE stripped Kasparov of his status and organised an event to determine a new champion — this event was won by Anatoly Karpov. Kasparov claimed that, as he had not been defeated by a challenger to his title in a match, and in fact had defeated the rightful challenger (Nigel Short in 1993), that he was still the reigning world champion. Thus, for the first time since the inaugural World Championship in 1886, there were two rival World Chess Championships. The PCA ran a world championship cycle similar
Women's World Chess Championship 2004 (18th) and Sofia Polgar (19th). Notably, this was the second Women's World Championship in a row in which the reigning champion (in this case Zhu Chen) did not attempt to defend their title. No fourth game was played, as Stefanova led with two points. Women's World Chess Championship 2004 The Women's World Chess Championship 2004 took place from May 21 to June 4, 2004 in Elista, Russia. It was won by Antoaneta Stefanova, who beat Ekaterina Kovalevskaya in the final by 2½ to ½. For the third time, the championship took the form of a 64-player knock-out tournament. Qualified players