Michael Adams
- September 27, 2025
Finalist of the FIDE World Championship Knockout 2004
Highest FIDE Elo Rating: 2761
Ranking: highest world number four
Tournament Career: winner of eight super-tournaments:
2x winner Dortmund International Chess Meeting, Dos Hermanas Chess Tournament
winner London Chess Classic 2023
and a few others…
Chess Olympiads: individual silver medal on the first board
Why he deserves it:
Mickey Adams has been a staple of top-level chess since the nineties. Although he is no longer among the absolute best, his victory at the London Chess Classic 2023 shows that he is not yet ready for retirement. Even now, he is ranked within the top hundred in the world.
As can be read above, he achieved great success at the FIDE World Championship 2004, where he reached the finals in the knockout system. However, his career achievements are by no means limited to this. He has won numerous strong tournaments and even reached the elite world top five. He also left a mark in the classical World Championship outside of FIDE’s organization during the chess schism: in 1995, he played in the candidates’ matches and lost in the semifinals to Anand, who eventually contested the title with Kasparov. In subsequent years, he regularly advanced to the final rounds of the FIDE World Championship and participated in the Candidates Tournament in 2007 after the reunification of the titles.
Why he isn’t higher:
Adams is one of the best English chess players in history, but he did not reach the highest peaks and placements in international competition. Ironically, he achieved one of the biggest victories of his career at fifty years old at the London Chess Classic, but even that was mainly against English players. Compared to other players, his one silver medal at the Chess Olympiads is also a relatively minor success. Nevertheless, he remains a playing legend and one of the players who helped create a significant modern chess era.
Best Games:
Sergei Tiviakov vs Michael Adams
Candidates Matches 1994, Quarterfinal
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Miroslav Janeček graduated in English Philology at Palacký University Olomouc. Currently he works in Prague as a content editor for a large marketing company. His roots are in Opava - the historic and cultural centre of the Czech part of Silesia. That city is also the home of Slezan Opava, the chess club where Miroslav started to play chess, later went on to work as a youth coach and which he to this day proudly represents. As an aspiring chess publicist, he is the main author of articles on ChessDB.cz. In his free time, in addition to chess and writing, he also devotes himself to racket sports, history, and literature.