World Rapid Chess Championship Cap d'Agde October 24 – October 30, 2003

The World Rapid Chess Championship was held in Cap d'Agde, on the Mediterranean coast of France. The tournament organised by the Caisse Centrale d'Activités Sociales des Electriciens et Gaziers de France (CCAS). The 6th edition of this event saw eleven of the twelve best chess players on the planet, plus the legendary Karpov, the European champion Azmaiparashvili and the two French players Bacrot and Lautier at the start.

The participants were divided into two all-play-all groups, the top four in each group qualified for the knock-out stage. The speed of play was 25 minutes + 10 seconds per played per move. This is how the final rounds were decided:

The final on Thursday between Vladimir Kramnik and Vishy Anand started with a 19-move draw, with Kramnik wielding the white pieces in a Sicilian Scheveningen. In the second game, a fast-paced Sveshnikov, Kramnik exchanged his queen for two rooks, but these were not properly coordinated and Anand's agile queen soon won the day.

The first game of the final, which ended in a 19-move draw

• All the games of the preliminaries
• All the games of the knock-out stage
• The two final games for immediate replay

Pictures

Anand and Kramnik analysing after the final game of Cap d'Agde

Actually I think I missed a forced mate in seven on move 44, Vlad

Ah well, let's shake on it

Thing were going just great, but then I ran into a Veeshy

Now that will look nice on the shelf over the fire place

Tendulkar? Sure his batting is great, but I'm not at all impressed by his Najdorf

Andor Lilienthal, nonagenarian, with wife and Judit Polgar

The Bacrot family. The pretty one on the left is Etienne

Okay, but could Fischer play the grand piano like this?

It was none of these, officer! In the front row of the lineup: Adams, Gelfand, Leko, Bareev, Karpov, Topalov, Ponomariov, Judit Polgar, Bacrot, Grischuk and Svidler.

Links

• Sea, sun and chess – last year's Cap d'Agde report
• World Rapid down to final four
• Full coverage at Europe Echecs (in French)
• Official Cap d'Agde web site