Qualification
Players qualified for the championship according to the following criteria:
- four semi-finalists of the previous championship (Viswanathan Anand, Alexei Shirov, Michael Adams, Alexander Grischuk);
- the World Junior Champion 2000 (Lazaro Bruzon);
- 20 best rated players (the average of July 2000 and January 2001 rating lists was used);
- 90 qualifiers from the continental championships;
- eight qualifiers from the Internet championship;
- five nominees of the FIDE President.
Read more about this topic: FIDE World Chess Championship 2002