/Images/Players/Small/svidler.jpg" align="left" alt="Peter Svidler">

The Saint-Petersburg GM Peter Svidler became the winner of the internet-tournament which took place April 12, 2004 to April 17, 2004 at the playing zone of PlayChess.com. This tournament has made possible through the support of China Communications Corp. to inaugurate the Association of Chess Professionals (ACP) .

There were four preliminary groups. The first four qualified for the final. The final stage was played in knock-out system.
The time control: 4 minutes per game + 1 second after each move.
The results of the preliminary groups :
1 group:
1-3. A.Timofeev, S.Matveeva (RUS), V.Iordachescu (MOL) - 12 out of 17
4. P.Kiriakov (RUS) - 11.5
/Java/2004/ACP1/viewer.html"> View games
/Java/2004/ACP1/prelim01.zip"> Games in PGN
2 group:
1. M.Kazhgaleyev (KAZ) - 14 out of 17,
2-3. A.Naiditsch (GER), S.Erenburg (ISR) - 13,
4. M.Kobalia (RUS) - 12.5
/Java/2004/ACP2/viewer.html"> View games
/Java/2004/ACP2/prelim02.zip"> Games in PGN
3 group:
1. Zhang Zhong (CHN) - 14.5 out of 17,
2. V.Belov (RUS)- 12.5,
3. A.Grischuk (RUS) - 12
4. J.Lautier (FRA) - 11.5.
/Java/2004/ACP3/viewer.html"> View games
/Java/2004/ACP3/prelim03.zip"> Games in PGN
4 group:
1. P.Svidler (RUS) - 12
2. S.Shipov (RUS) - 11.5
3. E.Najer (RUS) - 11
4. P.Tregubov (RUS) - 10.5
/Java/2004/ACP4/viewer.html"> View games
/Java/2004/ACP4/prelim04.zip"> Games in PGN
Of the 71 participants two players, Ghaem Maghami and Arkadi Naiditsch, disqualified from this tournament of having used computer assistance. Naiditsch was replaced the sixth-placed player in Group 2, Evgeny Bareev (fifth was Ghaem Maghami). In Group 1 Svetlana Matveeva and Viorel Iordachescu refused to play in final due to they are obliged to play in the other tournaments. In order to replace them there was a play-off between the runners-up Sergey Volkov, Sasikiran, Alexey Dreev and Luke McShane, all of whom had scored 11 points. The winners and qualifiers for the finals were Dreev and Volkov.
These are the players in the final round and their pairings:
Peter Svidler RUS 2733 - Sergey Erenburg ISR 2513 2.5:1.5
Alexander Grischuk RUS 2719 - Vladimir Belov RUS 2543 1:3
Evgeny Bareev RUS 2711 - Petr Kiriakov RUS 2568 0.5:2.5
Alexei Dreev RUS 2689 - Artyom Timofeev RUS 2591 2.5:1.5
Joel Lautier FRA 2680 - Sergey Shipov RUS 2593 1.5:2.5
Mikhail Kobalia RUS 2639 - Murtas Kazhgaleyey KAZ 2596 3:1
Pavel Tregubov RUS 2636 - Evgenij Najer RUS 2606 0.5:2.5
Zhang Zhong CHN 2633 - Sergey Volkov RUS 2629 0.5:2.5
The finals on Saturday was held in the form of a match-knockout tournament. In the first two rounds each match lasted four games, in the semifinal the matchs were last six games each. In the case of a tie a tiebreak-game was played. Here white had six minutes versus five without any increment. In all other games the time-control was 5+1.
Quarterfinals:
Peter Svidler RUS 2733 - Sergey Volkov RUS 2629 2.5:0.5
Vladimir Belov RUS 2543 - Evgeniy Najer RUS 2606 3:1
Petr Kiriakov RUS 256 - Mikhail Kobalia RUS 2639 0.5:2.5
Alexei Dreev RUS 2689 - Sergey Shipov RUS 2593 2.5:0.5
Seminals:
Peter Svidler RUS 2733 - Alexei Dreev RUS 2689 3:0.5
Evgeniy Najer RUS 2606 - Mikhail Kobalia RUS 2639 3:2
Final:
Peter Svidler RUS 2733 - Evgeniy Najer RUS 2606 3.5:2.5
/Java/2004/ACPf/viewer.html"> View final games
/Java/2004/ACPf/final.zip"> Final games in PGN
Internet site: www.chessbase.com