The Chess Classics were chess tournaments initiated by Hans-Walter Schmitt, they were organized in the years 1994 to 2010. Among other things, the world champions in rapid chess and - also under rapid chess time control - the world champion in Chess960 and the computer Chess960 world champion were determined.
The Chess Classic took place a total of seventeen times, seven times in Frankfurt am Main (1994 to 2000) and ten times in Mainz, .[1] In Mainz the Chess Classic (abbreviated to CCM) was played in the Rheingoldhalle. Hans-Walter Schmitt managed to find sponsorship from Jens Beutel, Lord Mayor of Mainz, and he became patron of the event.There were different events such as the Chess Classic Championship, Quick Chess Open, Chess960 Rapid Chess World Championships, FiNet Open in Chess960 and Chess960 Computer World Championship. In addition, 13 duels against machine (rapid chess and Chess960) and 26 simultaneous sessions (including Chess960) were conducted.
Pocket Fritz (A chess computer) was created in 2001 in the Rheingoldhalle Mainz.in 2002 Jens Beutel played against Viswanathan Anand on the stage in the Rheingoldhalle, they were both using Pocket Fritz as computer assistance.
| Year | Winner | Second | Third | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | Alexei Shirov[2] | Vladimir Kramnik[3] | Péter Lékó[4] | |
| 1997 | Eric Lobron | |||
| 1998 | Viswanathan Anand | Vladimir Kramnik | Garry Kasparov | |
| 1999 | Garry Kasparov | Viswanathan Anand | Vladimir Kramnik | |
| 2000 | Viswanathan Anand | Garry Kasparov | Vladimir Kramnik | |
| 2001 | Viswanathan Anand | Vladimir Kramnik | Duel | |
| 2002 | Viswanathan Anand | Ruslan Ponomariov | Duel | |
| 2003 | Viswanathan Anand | Duel | ||
| 2004 | Viswanathan Anand | Alexei Schirov | Duel | |
| 2005 | Viswanathan Anand | duel | ||
| 2006 | Viswanathan Anand | duel | ||
| 2007 | Viswanathan Anand | Rustam Kasimdzhanov | ||
| 2008 | Viswanathan Anand | Alexander Morozevich | ||
| 2009 | Levon Aronian | Viswanathan Anand | ||
| 2010 | Levon Aronian |
| Year | Winner | Second Place | Third Place | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | Igor Khenkin | |||
| 1995 | Bogdan Lalić | Alexander Chernin | ||
| 1996 | Stefan Djurić | |||
| 1997 | Waleri Beim | Rafael Vaganian | ||
| 1998 | Stefan Djurić | Alberto David | ||
| 1999 | Vadim Milov | Michail Ulybin | ||
| 2000 | Peter Svidler | |||
| 2001 | Oleg Eismont | |||
| 2002 | Evgenij Agrest | |||
| 2003 | Eric Lobron | |||
| 2004 | Alexander Grischuk | Sergei Rublevsky | ||
| 2005 | Alexander Morozevich | |||
| 2006 | Alexander Morozevich | |||
| 2007 | Krishnan Sasikiran | |||
| 2008 | Zoltán Almási | |||
| 2009 | Shakhriyar Mamedyarov | Vladimir Akopian | ||
| 2010 | Levon Aronian |
| year | Winner | Second | Third | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | open | Duel | |||
| 2004 | open | Peter Swidler | Levon Aronian | Duel | |
| 2005 | open | Peter Swidler | Duel | ||
| 2006 | open | Levon Aronian | Peter Swidler | Duel | |
| 2006 | Women | Duel | |||
| 2006 | Seniors | Duel | |||
| 2006 | Juniors | Duel | |||
| 2007 | open | Levon Aronian | Étienne Bacrot | ||
| 2008 | women | Alexandra Kosteniuk | Viktorija Čmilytė | ||
| 2009 | open | Levon Aronian | Sergej Movsesjan |
| Jahr | Winner | Second | Third | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | Daniel Fridman | |||
| 2003 | Konstantin Landa | |||
| 2004 | Mihail Kobalija | |||
| 2005 | Lewon Aronjan | Klaus Bischoff | ||
| 2006 | Étienne Bacrot | Alexander Grischuk | ||
| 2007 | Vassili Ivantschuk | |||
| 2008 | Alexander Motylev | |||
| 2009 | Alexander Grischuk | Rustam Kasimdzhanov |
In the years 2007 to 2009 special talent tournaments took place for the children. These were three Mini Ordix Open and three Mini FiNet Open: 2009 seven rounds with separate scoring in 5 age groups (U16, U14, U12, U10 and U8), and in 2008 and 2007 six rounds each with separate scoring for 4 age groups (U14, U12, U10 and U8).
1. Mini ORDIX Open U14 (2007) Final score after 6 rounds with 107 participants: Constantin Göbel, Ramil Babayev and Anna Endress. Best in the age groups were: Anna Endress (U14), Constantin Göbel (U12), Stephan Hansch (U10) and Björn-Benny Bauer (U8).
1. Mini FiNet Open U14 (2007) Final score after 6 rounds with 35 participants: Anna Endress, Alexander Jussupow and Constantin Göbel. Best in the age groups were: Anna Endress (U14), Constantin Göbel (U12), Stephan Hansch (U10) and Björn-Benny Bauer (U8).
2. Mini ORDIX Open U14 (2008) Final stage after 6 rounds with 104 participants: Dennis Wagner, Joshua Aarash Hager and Johannes Carow. Best in the age groups were: Joshua Aarash Hager (U14), Dennis Wagner (U12), Alexander Donchenko (U10) and Elias Müller (U8).
2. Mini FiNet Open U14 (2008) Final score after 6 rounds with 26 participants: Sebastian Kaphle, Carlo Pauly and Frederik Eigemann. Best in the age groups were: Sebastian Kaphle (U14), Frederik Eigemann (U12), Alexej Paulsen (U10) and Pascal Karsay (U8).
3. Mini ORDIX Open U16 (2009) Final score after 7 rounds with 72 participants: Alexander Donchenko, Dominik Will and Frederik Eigemann. Best in the age groups were: Matthias Eimer (U16), Dominik Will (U14), Alexander Donchenko (U12), Robert Baskin (U10) and Samuel Weber (U8).
3. Mini FiNet Open U16 (2009) Final score after 6 rounds with 32 participants: Johannes Carow, Carlo Pauly and Frederik Eigemann. Best in the age groups were: Achim Bluhm (U16), Johannes Carow (U14), Sonja Maria Bluhm (U12), Robert Baskin (U10) and Elias Müller (U8).
As the highlight of the different show battles between humans and computers and humans versus computers, the Chess960 Computer World Championships in Mainz were held from 2005 to 2009.[5]
| Jahr | Winner | Second Place | Third Place | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Spike (Volker Böhm, Ralf Schäfer) | Jonny (Johannes Zwanzger) | Glaurung (Tord Romstad) | |
| 2006 | Shredder (Stefan Mayer-Kahlen) | Jonny (Johannes Zwanzger) | Ikarus (Muntsinn & Munjong Kolss) | |
| 2007 | Rybka (Vasik Rajlich) | Shredder (Stefan Mayer-Kahlen) | Spike (Volker Böhm, Ralf Schäfer) | |
| 2008 | Rybka (Vasik Rajlich) | Shredder (Stefan Mayer-Kahlen) | Naum (Alexander Naumov) | |
| 2009 | Rybka (Vasik Rajlich) | Shredder (Stefan Mayer-Kahlen) | Deep thought (Gian-Carlo Pascutto) |