Reunification of the World Chess Crown

After 13 years of schism in the world chess arena, they finally settled for a reunification of the two titles. FIDE champion Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria is staged to face PCA champ Vladimir Kramnik of Russia starting tomorrow, September 23, 2006, in a best-of-twelve series match in Elista, Kalmykia.

My bet goes to the current highest rated player, Topalov (after Kasparov retired from active chess in 2005).
topalov-kramnik

To Val De Guzman, prepare for your starbucks treat next year. LOL

Previous World Champons:

* Wilhelm Steinitz, 1886-1894, Austria/USA
* Emanuel Lasker, 1894-1921, Germany
* Jose Raul Capablanca, 1921-1927, Cuba
* Alexander Alekhine, 1927-1935, Russia/France
* Max Euwe, 1935-1937, Netherlands
* Alexander Alekhine, 1937-1946, France
* Mikhail Botvinnik, 1948-1957, Soviet Union (Russia)
* Vasily Smyslov, 1957-1958, Soviet Union (Russia)
* Mikhail Botvinnik, 1958-1960, Soviet Union (Russia)
* Mikhail Tal, 1960-1961, Soviet Union (Latvia)
* Mikhail Botvinnik, 1961-1963, Soviet Union (Russia)
* Tigran Petrosian, 1963-1969, Soviet Union (Armenia)
* Boris Spassky, 1969-1972, Soviet Union (Russia)
* Robert J Fischer, 1972-1975, United States
* Anatoly Karpov, 1975-1985, Soviet Union (Russia)
* Garry Kasparov, 1985-1993, Soviet Union (Russia)

FIDE world champions since 1993:

* Anatoly Karpov, 1993-1999, Russia
* Alexander Khalifman, 1999-2000, Russia
* Viswanathan Anand, 2000-2002, India
* Ruslan Ponomariov, 2002-2004, Ukraine
* Rustam Kasimdzhanov, 2004-2005, Uzbekistan
* Veselin Topalov, 2005-present, Bulgaria

PCA “Classical” World Champions:

* Garry Kasparov, 1993-2000, Russia
* Vladimir Kramnik, 2000-present, Russia

Why the split in 1993? Read the wikipedia article

You can also read more about the 2006 Reunification Tourney here and here (Update: The official website has been hacked!).

17 Comments

Val September 22, 2006 Reply

Let’s see

deuts September 22, 2006 Reply

cge tingnan natin yan….hhehe starbucks hah….dapat may kasamang oreo cheesecake…hehehe

val September 23, 2006 Reply

sige pag ako nanalo ensaymada ang kasama. ayaw ko ng oreo

val September 24, 2006 Reply

nangangamoy ang starbucks 1-0 na. sarap nito

val September 24, 2006 Reply

wawa topalov

val September 24, 2006 Reply

estimate ko hanggang 10 games lang to

val September 24, 2006 Reply

kailan ba balik mo? naiinip na ako.

deuts September 24, 2006 Reply

Oo nga tingin ko din hanggang game 10 lng to. pero syempre panalo sa topalov. game 1 pa nga lng eh. lam mo ba ung result nung match ni spassky at fischer nung 1972. nanalo din c spassky sa game 1. kc, ini-risk pa ni fischer ung isang drawing position, gusto ata ipanalo pa kaso natalo tuloy. yan din ang nangyari sa game 1 nila topalov at kramnik.

mas magaling ata c topalov kay kramnik. what is his being the number 1 rated player in the world for….hehehehe 🙂

val September 24, 2006 Reply

It’s not the rating that counts rather the history of head to head battle between the two warriors is more important. As far as I can remember, Kramnik defeated Topalov more times than Topalov defeated Kramnik. Another factor to consider is the fact that only Kramnik defeated the great Garry Kasparov. Another fact is Kramnik is very very rare to lose a game.

deuts September 25, 2006 Reply

Uh-oh! 2-0 na in favor of Kramnik….

Val September 25, 2006 Reply

sarap ng starbucks

jamal September 26, 2006 Reply

langya, kayo na lang dalawa maglaban, mas masarap pa panoorin, inaabot ng madaling araw. he he he

Val October 14, 2006 Reply

PANALO AKO NG STARBUCKS COFFEE. GALING TALAGA KRAMNIK

deuts October 14, 2006 Reply

wala! madaya ka eh! hehehehe! magaling talaga c kramnik… pati c topalov magaling din…

deuts October 15, 2006 Reply

at least maganda na rin un na c Kramnik nanalo, madaling matanggap ng lahat. pag si topalov pa nanalo malaking sakit pa un sa ulo ung nangyari sa game 5. At least ngaun legitamate n talaga na iisa na lang ang champion, in the person of Vladimir Kramnik.

franz January 11, 2007 Reply

Chess na naman? Tagal na to na post ah…

deuts January 12, 2007 Reply

o bakit cnabi ko ba na bago to? tingnan mo naman kc ang date ng post!

Bwahahahah!

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