Chess World Cup: Michael Adams keeps turning the clock back in style

Back in 1998, Viswanathan Anand and Michael Adams contested the match that would decide the challenger for Anatoly Karpov in the FIDE World Chess Championship. The Indian emerged as the winner in sudden death.

Cut to 2025, both men are in Goa for the Chess World Cup – Anand as FIDE’s deputy president and Adams as a player. The Englishman, in fact, moved into the second round of the World Cup.

Adams is a former World No. 4. In 2004, he came close to becoming the World champion but lost to Rustam Kasimdzhanov in the final, which was decided in tie-breakers. He is 53 now and ranked No. 90 in the world.

“I guess this would almost certainly be my last World Cup,” Adams told Sportstar a little after scoring his second win in as many days over Ahmed Abdullah Alrehaili. “Never say never, but so it was really just a question of whether I wanted to try one more time.”

Adams, who turned the clock in style to win the London Chess Classic two years ago ahead of the likes of D. Gukesh, is glad that there is more chess activity back home. “It was when practically everything was shut down during the pandemic that I decided I wanted to play a lot and try and do a few more years.”

Adams is glad that he made that decision. Apart from the London Classic, he also won the World senior (over-50) championship in 2023.

Expressing sadness at the tragic death of American grandmaster Daniel Naroditsky, Adams said, “It is just totally shocking and horrible.

“You can’t make accusations against people publicly. I think there is too much publicity for cheating, and it is very bad for chess. 99.99 per cent of players are very honest in a game where everyone has the capacity to cheat. And yet there is such a big fuss.”

Published on Nov 04, 2025