Below is a list of events in chess in 1996, as well as the top ten FIDE rated chess players of that year.

Top players

FIDE The International Chess Federation or World Chess Federation, commonly referred to by its French acronym FIDE ( Fédération Internationale des Échecs), is an international organization based in Switzerland that connects the various national c ...

top 10 by Elo rating – January 1996 #

Vladimir Kramnik Vladimir Borisovich Kramnik (russian: Влади́мир Бори́сович Кра́мник; born 25 June 1975) is a Russian chess grandmaster. He was the Classical World Chess Champion from 2000 to 2006, and the undisputed World Chess Ch ...

2775 #

Garry Kasparov Garry Kimovich Kasparov (born 13 April 1963) is a Russian chess Grandmaster (chess), grandmaster, former World Chess Champion, writer, political activist and commentator. His peak Elo rating system, rating of 2851, achieved in 1999, was the hi ...

2775 #

Anatoly Karpov Anatoly Yevgenyevich Karpov ( rus, links=no, Анато́лий Евге́ньевич Ка́рпов, p=ɐnɐˈtolʲɪj jɪvˈɡʲenʲjɪvʲɪtɕ ˈkarpəf; born May 23, 1951) is a Russian and former Soviet chess grandmaster, former World Che ...

2770 #

Vassily Ivanchuk Vasyl Mykhaylovych Ivanchuk ( uk, Василь Михайлович Іванчук; born March 18, 1969), also transliterated as Vassily Ivanchuk, is a Ukrainian chess player. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in 1988. A leading ...

2735 #

Gata Kamsky Gata Kamsky ( tt-Cyrl, Гата Камский, italics=no; russian: Гата Камский; born June 2, 1974) is a Soviet-born American chess grandmaster, and a five-time U.S. champion. Kamsky reached the final of the FIDE World Chess Ch ...

2735 #

Viswanathan Anand Viswanathan "Vishy" Anand (born 11 December 1969) is an Indian chess grandmaster and a former five-time World Chess Champion. He became the first grandmaster from India in 1988, and is one of the few players to have surpassed an Elo rating ...

2725 #

Veselin Topalov Veselin Aleksandrov Topalov (pronounced ; bg, Весели́н Александров Топа́лов; born 15 March 1975) is a Bulgarian chess grandmaster and former FIDE World Chess Champion. Topalov became FIDE World Chess Champion by wi ...

2700 #

Boris Gelfand Boris Gelfand ( he, בוריס אברמוביץ' גלפנד; be, Барыс Абрамавіч Гельфанд, Barys Abramavich Hel'fand; russian: Борис Абрамович Гельфанд, Boris Abramovich Gel'fand; born 24 June 1968) ...

2700 #

Alexei Shirov Alexei Shirov (, lv, Aleksejs Širovs; born 4 July 1972) is a Latvian and Spanish chess player. Shirov was ranked number two in the world in 1994. He won a match against Vladimir Kramnik in 1998 to qualify to play as challenger for the classi ...

2690 # Judit Polgár 2675

Chess news in brief

defeats

10½-7½ in

Elista Elista (russian: Элиста́, (common during the Soviet era) or (most common pronunciation used after 1992 and in Kalmykia itself);"Большой энциклопедический словарь", под ред. А. М. Прохорова. ...

Kalmykia he official languages of the Republic of Kalmykia are the Kalmyk and Russian languages./ref> , official_lang_list= Kalmyk , official_lang_ref=Steppe Code (Constitution) of the Republic of Kalmykia, Article 17: he official languages of the R ...

, to successfully defend his FIDE

World Chess Championship The World Chess Championship is played to determine the world champion in chess. The current world champion is Magnus Carlsen of Norway, who has held the title since 2013. The first event recognized as a world championship was the 1886 matc ...

Title. FIDE's suggestion of playing the match in

Baghdad Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesipho ...

is dropped after protests are lodged. * Zsuzsa Polgar defeats

Xie Jun Xie Jun (born October 30, 1970) is a Chinese chess grandmaster and is not just the first Chinese female but the first Asian female to become a chess grandmaster. She had two separate reigns as Women's World Chess Champion, from 1991 to 1996 ...

8½-4½ in Spain, to win the Women's World Chess Championship. *

wins the double round, six-player tournament at

Las Palmas Las Palmas (, ; ), officially Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, is a Spain, Spanish city and capital of Gran Canaria, in the Canary Islands, on the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital (jointly with Santa Cruz de Tenerife), the most populous city in th ...

. The tournament is one of the strongest of all time, with an average Elo rating of 2757. *Kasparov defeats

Deep Blue Deep Blue may refer to: Film * '' Deep Blues: A Musical Pilgrimage to the Crossroads'', a 1992 documentary film about Mississippi Delta blues music * ''Deep Blue'' (2001 film), a film by Dwight H. Little * ''Deep Blue'' (2003 film), a film us ...

4–2, despite losing the first game. As the (Philadelphia) contest progresses, he appears to get the measure of the IBM computer. The world media covers the match with an intense level of scrutiny. *

has a very successful year, including an outright win at the 3rd Lord Novgorod tournament with 6/10. *

and Topalov tie for first at Dos Hermanas with 6/9, ahead of Kasparov and

. *The annual Wijk aan Zee Corus Tournament is won by

with 9/13, ahead of Anand (8) and Topalov (7½). *Topalov and Kasparov win at

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

(both 6½/9). *Gelfand, Topalov and Karpov share success at

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

(all 5½/9). *The Moscow Grand Prix event is won by Kramnik and the

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland. Situ ...

Grand Prix event by Anand. * Alexander Khalifman wins the Russian Chess Championship, held in

. *The Yerevan Olympiad is won by Russia (38½/56), ahead of

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian invas ...

on 35 and USA and England (both 34). Outstanding scorers include the gold medal-winning Mohammed Al-Modiahki of Qatar (8/10),

Karen Asrian Karen Asrian ( hy, Կարեն Ասրյան; 24 April 1980 – 9 June 2008) was an Armenian chess player. Awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in 1998, he was a three-time Armenian champion. Asrian was a member of the gold medal-winning Arme ...

of Armenia (10/12) and Matthew Sadler of England (10½/13). Kasparov (7/9), Ivanchuk (8½/11) and Peter Svidler (8½/11) are among the top names that shine. The U.S. team is without Kamsky, but Alex Yermolinsky takes a silver medal for his board 2 (8/11) performance. There are 114 teams and some 665 players in attendance. *The U.S. Chess Championship, held at Parsippany, New Jersey is won by Yermolinsky. Anjelina Belakovskaia wins the

U.S. Women's Chess Championship Following are the results of the U.S. Women's Chess Championship from 1937 to date. The tournament determines the woman chess champion of the United States. List of U.S. Women's Chess Champions *1937 Adele Rivero *1938 Mona May Karff *1940 Adele ...

. *Yermolinsky and

Alexander Goldin Alexander Goldin (born February 27, 1964) is an American chess grandmaster of Russian origin. Goldin had success from a young age. In 1981 he won the USSR Under-18 Championship. He was a joint winner of the Soviet Championship semifinal at Sev ...

tie for first place at the

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

World Open. *GM Chris Ward wins the

British Chess Championship The British Chess Championships are organised by the English Chess Federation. The main tournament incorporates the British Championship, the English Chess Championships and the British Women's Chess Championship so it is possible, although it has ...

, held in

Nottingham Nottingham ( , locally ) is a city and unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east of Sheffield and north-east of Birmingham. Nottingham has links to the legend of Robi ...

Harriet Hunt Harriet Vaughan Hunt (born 4 February 1978 in Oxford) is an English chess player and five-time British Women's Chess Champion (which she most recently won in October 2021, 22 years after her fourth win). Having trained as a plant scientist a ...

takes a second successive British Ladies title. *

Gabriel Schwartzman Gabriel Schwartzman (born 1975/1976) is a Romanian-born American chess Grandmaster. Originally from Bucharest, Romania Schwartzman moved to Florida, USA. He played in his first chess tournament at the age of 4, and by the age of 12, was FID ...

wins the U.S. Open Chess Championship, aged 19. *Young Frenchman

Étienne Bacrot Étienne Bacrot (; born 22 January 1983) is a French chess grandmaster, and as a child, a chess prodigy. He competed at the Candidates Matches in 2007 and won the Aeroflot Open in 2009. He passed 2700 FIDE rating in 2004 and in January 200 ...

proves he is already a formidable opponent, when he defeats former World Champion

Vasily Smyslov Vasily Vasilyevich Smyslov ( rus, Васи́лий Васи́льевич Смысло́в, Vasíliy Vasíl'yevich Smyslóv; 24 March 1921 – 27 March 2010) was a Soviet and Russian chess grandmaster, who was World Chess Champion from 1957 to ...

by a match score of 5–1. *Israeli

Emil Sutovsky Emil Sutovsky (born 19 September 1977) is an Israeli chess player. He was awarded the title Grandmaster by FIDE in 1996. Sutovsky is the FIDE CEO since 2022. Previously he served as FIDE Director-General (2018-22). He was the president of the A ...

wins in

Medellín Medellín ( or ), officially the Municipality of Medellín ( es, Municipio de Medellín), is the second-largest city in Colombia, after Bogotá, and the capital of the department of Antioquia. It is located in the Aburrá Valley, a central re ...

to become the new World Junior Chess Champion. *Ukrainian prodigy

Ruslan Ponomariov Ruslan Olehovych Ponomariov ( uk, Русла́н Оле́гович Пономарьо́в; born 11 October 1983) is a Ukrainian chess grandmaster. He was FIDE World Chess Champion from 2002 to 2004. He won the Ukrainian Chess Championship i ...

wins the

European Youth Chess Championship The European Youth Chess Championship is organized by the European Chess Union (ECU) in groups under 8, 10, 12, 14, 16 and 18 years old. The first tournament was held in 1991, and the under 8 category was introduced in 2007. Until 2002 there was al ...

(Under 18 category), aged 12, held in Rimavská Sobota. *Swedish GM Ulf Andersson gives a 310 board simultaneous display in Alvsjo, Sweden and wins 268, draws 40 and loses 2, in 15 hours and 23 minutes. *Ex-world snooker champion

Steve Davis Steve Davis (born 22 August 1957) is an English retired professional snooker player who is currently a commentator, musician, DJ, and author. He is best known for dominating professional snooker during the 1980s, when he reached eight World S ...

is pronounced the new President of the

British Chess Federation The English Chess Federation (ECF) is the governing chess organisation in England. It is affiliated to FIDE. The ECF was formed in 2004 as one of the more localised successors to the British Chess Federation (BCF), an organisation founded in 1904. ...

Births

*March 25 –

Richárd Rapport Richárd Rapport (born 25 March 1996) is a Hungarian-Romanian chess grandmaster. A chess prodigy, he earned his grandmaster title at the age of 13 years, 11 months and 6 days, making him Hungary's youngest ever grandmaster. He was the Hungaria ...

, youngest Hungarian GM (2010) and fifth youngest GM in history at age 13 years, 11 months, and 6 days *April 18 –

Daniil Dubov Daniil Dmitrievich Dubov (russian: Даниил Дмитриевич Дубов; born 18 April 1996) is a Russian chess grandmaster. He achieved his final norm for the Grandmaster title at the age of 14 years, 11 months, 14 days in 2011. He i ...

, Russian GM (2011) *September 27 – Illia Nyzhnyk, Ukrainian GM (2011) who won the 2007

(Under 12 category) and narrowly missed out on the Under 12

World Youth In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...

title the same year, on tiebreak

Deaths

Vladimir Liberzon Vladimir Mikhailovich Liberzon ( he, ולדימיר מיכאילוביץ' ליברזון; russian: Влади́мир Миха́йлович Либерзо́н; 23 March 1937, in Moscow – 4 August 1996) was a Russian-born Israeli chess grandma ...

, Russian born Israeli Grandmaster – August 4 * Julio Bolbochán, Argentine Grandmaster and twice the national champion – June 28 *

Yosef Porat Yosef Porat ( he, יוסף פורת; 7 June 1909, Breslau, Germany – 18 May 1996, Ramot HaShavim, Israel) was a German-Israeli chess player. He is not to be confused with an archaeologist Yosef Porath. Biography Yosef Porat was born ''Hein ...

, German born IM, many times the national champion of Israel and Palestine – ? *

Predrag Ostojic Predrag ( sr-cyr, Предраг) is a Slavic masculine given name, predominantly borne by ethnic Slavs, derived from ''pre-'' ("very, much") and ''-drag'' ("dear, beloved"), both common in Slavic dithematic names. It roughly means "very beloved" ...

, Yugoslav (Serbian) Grandmaster, twice the national champion – July 5 * Victor Buerger, Latvian-British player, moderately successful in tournaments of the 1920s and 30s – ?

References

*
Chess History & Chronology - Bill WallArchived
2009-10-20)
Olimpbase - Olympiads and other Team event information
{{chess 20th century in chess Chess by year