Vassily Ivanchuk - Reaches World Elite

Reaches World Elite

Ivanchuk reached chess world fame at the age of 21 when he won the Linares tournament in 1991. Fourteen players participated, eight of them rated top-ten of the world, including World Chess Champion Garry Kasparov, while the rest were all among the world's top 50 players. Ivanchuk narrowly edged Kasparov by a half-point, defeating Kasparov in their individual game.

It was widely believed that Ivanchuk might become World Champion, but this has not yet happened, although he came close in 2002 when he reached the final of the FIDE World Chess Championship 2002. Consistently among the top 10 since 1988, this did not prevent Mark Crowther's The Week in Chess from attributing his erratic play to a "poor temperament." His inability to become World Champion despite his immense talent and longevity among the chess elite has been attributed to his admittedly poor nerves, which have been exposed during the high-tension atmosphere of World Championship match-format tournaments, such as in 2002 where he was heavily favored in the FIDE championship final after having defeated defending champion Viswanathan Anand in the semifinals, only to lose to countryman Ruslan Ponomariov in a significant upset, denying him the World Championship. Subsequent match-play tournaments in World Championship cycles have seen Ivanchuk consistently underperform; in the FIDE World Chess Championship 2004, Chess World Cup 2005, Chess World Cup 2007, and Chess World Cup 2009, he failed to advance past the third round despite being seeded No. 5, No. 1, No. 1 and No. 6 respectively in those events.

Ivanchuk's world championship aspirations were also dampened by the unfortunate title split 1993 to 2006. Due to obligations with FIDE, Ivanchuk and Anand did not participate in the 2002 Dortmund Candidates tournament for the Classical World Chess Championship 2004. He was then narrowly excluded, on the basis of rating, from the rival FIDE World Chess Championship 2005. Although he won one of the events of the FIDE Grand Prix 2008–2010, his overall performance was not good enough to qualify him for the World Chess Championship 2012 candidates tournament.