At the Rapid World Cup in March 2001 Svidler was eliminated at the group stage, finishing fourth in Group A, qualified from the group stage of the Viktor Korchnoi 70th Anniversary Tournament but was knocked out in the quarter finals by Piket. He came 11th with 8.5/11 in the Ordix Open, second at Biel, half a point behind Korchnoi, second at Moscow's Lightning event, competed in the China-Russia Summit and won team silver and board one bronze at the World Team Championship. Svidler reached the semifinals of the World Championship 2002, after defeating along the way Alejandro Hoffman, Sarunas Sulkis, Vadim Milov, Michael Adams and Boris Gelfand. He was eliminated by eventual winner Ruslan Ponomariov after losing the third game.