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Wednesday, 16 April 2008 |
 During his lengthy career, 36-year-old Michael Adams has collected enough reasons to participate in this first Grand Prix Series as one of the favorites. He has probably been more successful in World Championship cycles than any other player. Besides, he's shown to be in excellent form lately.
Michael Adams was born November 17, 1971 in Truro, Cornwall, England. He won the British Championship in 1989 at the age of seventeen. He won it again in 1997, jointly with Matthew Sadler, and has not taken part in the Championship since.
Among his tournament victories are Terrassa in 1991, Dos Hermanas 1995 (joint with Kamsky and Karpov), Dortmund 1998 (joint with with Kramnik and Svidler), and clear first at Dos Hermanas in 1999, ahead of Kramnik, Anand, Svidler, Karpov, Veselin Topalov, Judit Polgar and others.
In 1993, Adams finished equal first (with Viswanathan Anand) in the Groningen Interzonal tournament to determine challengers for the PCA World Chess Championship 1995. In the following Candidates matches he beat Sergei Tiviakov, but lost to Anand in the semi-finals.
In the FIDE World Championship of 1997 (a knockout), Adams reached the final, and after four games against Viswanathan Anand, he lost the sudden-death game. Two years later, his FIDE World Championship resulted in another semi-final finish, when he lost to Vladimir Akopian. Yet again, he reached the semi-finals of the 2000 FIDE World Championship, before losing to, again, Anand, who was the eventual winner.
Adams came closest to claiming a world title at the 2004 FIDE Championship, when he reached the final. This one he lost to Rustam Kasimdzhanov. At the FIDE World Chess Championship Tournament in San Luis 2005, Adams finished in equal sixth-seventh place.
At the Candidates Matches in May-June last year in Elista, Adams lost to Alexey Shirov after a rapidplay playoff was needed. In August he won the Staunton Memorial, finishing with a sweeping 8.5/11.
At the World Cup in Khanty-Mansiysk, December 2007, Adams reached the 4th round, but lost to Magnus Carlsen. In April 2008, Adams won the Magistral Ruy Lopez tournament in Merida, Spain, with 5.5/7.
The benevolent Michael Adams is clearly back in town as a top tournament participant. He has a very special positional playing style, based on classical openings. Adams is married to the actress Tara MacGowran.
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