Grandmaster Alexander Khalifman of Russia (born in 1966) won the 1999 World FIDE Championship Knockout event, held at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas from July 31 to August 29. At the time, he was ranked 45th in the world with a FIDE rating of 2628 and seeded 36th out of 100 in the event. He now becomes the 14th World Chess Champion.
Khalifman won the 1982 USSR Youth Championship. In 1984 he won the USSR Championship.
In 1990 he won the New York Open and gained his Grandmaster title. That year he also won a major tournament at Groningen.
In 1995 he won the Russian Championship, then won at Hastings at the end of the year.
In 1996 he won the Russian Championship again.
In 1998 Khalifman founded the Russian Grandmaster Chess School (http://www.gmchess.spb.ru/) in St Petersburg.
At the 1999 World FIDE Championship, he defeat Barau, Kamsky, Asrian, Gelfand, Judith Polgar, Nisipeanu, and Akopian (3.5-2.5) to win the title. His prize money totaled $660,000.