Kasimdzhanov, Rustam

FIDE World Champion, 2004 - 2005

Born in Tashkent, Uzbekistan in 1979 and is currently living in Germany. With a solid game and excellent theoretical preparation he was the great surprise at Tripoli 2004 World Championship, defeating World's best players, Vasily Ivanchuk, Zoltan Amasi, Alexander Grischuk and Veselin Topalov amongst others. In the final match he defeated British Michael Adams becoming FIDE World Champion.
His 2004 Championship title earned him an invitation to the eight player FIDE World Chess Championship 2005, where he tied with Michael Adams for 6–7 places.