(Alexander Khalifman, Vladimir Akopian, Michael Adams, Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu); juniors rated 2600 or higher in the rating lists of January 2000 to July 2000; the World Junior Champions 1999 (Aleksandr Galkin) and 2000 (Lázaro Bruzón); the Women's World Champion 1999 (Xie Jun); three nominees of the FIDE President; one nominee of the organizers; 62 qualifiers from the zonal tournaments; one nominee from each of the Continental Presidents (for a total of four players); a sufficient number of best rated players, to bring the total number of participants to 100 (the average of January and July 2000 rating lists was used); Playing conditions The championship was a knockout tournament similar to other FIDE World Chess Championships between 1998 and 2004: the players were paired for short matches, with losers eliminated. 28 players (27 best rated and Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu, one of the quarterfinalists of the previous championship) were given byes to the second round. The field of 100 participants was reduced to one winner over seven rounds. Rounds 1–5 consisted of a two-game match, followed by tie breaks at faster time controls if required. The time control for regular games was 100 minutes, with 50 minutes added after move 40, 10 minutes added after move 60, and 30 seconds added after each move starting with move 1. Tie breaks consisted of two rapid chess games (25 minutes each + 10 seconds per move); followed by two games with shorter time controls if required (15 minutes + 10 seconds per move); followed by a series of blitz games (4 minutes + 10 seconds per move for White, 5 minutes + 10 seconds per move for Black, first player to win is the winner of the match). The semifinals (round 6) were best of four games, and the final was best of six games, with the same conditions for the tie-breaks. Schedule There was one rest day during round 4 and two rest days during round 6. The tie-breaks of rounds 1–5 were played in the evening following the second game. The final took place one month after rounds 1–6. Round 1: 27 November 2000, 28 November 2000 (tiebreaks on 29 November 2000) Round 2: 30 November 2000, 1 December 2000 (tiebreaks on 2 December 2000) Round 3: 3 December 2000, 4 December 2000 (tiebreaks on 5 December 2000) Round 4: 6 December 2000, 7 December 2000 (tiebreaks on 8 December 2000) Round 5: 9