Vishwanathan Anand is the World Chess Champion after the World Championship 2007 in Mexico City. He is the fourth grandmaster to have reclaimed the crown, after Alexander Alekhine, Mikhail Botvinnik and Anatoly Karpov. That is, however, granting that Garry Kasparov split from FIDE in 1993 and retired from active chess in 2005. Anand first won the FIDE crown in 2000.
The list of world champions according to FIDE’s is now updated with this development as follows:
Name | Years | Country |
---|---|---|
Wilhelm Steinitz | 1886-1894 | Austria / United States |
Emanuel Lasker | 1894–1921 | Prussia/Germany |
José Raúl Capablanca | 1921–1927 | Cuba |
Alexander Alekhine | 1927–1935 | Soviet Union (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 |
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 | 2005–2006 | Bulgaria |
Vladimir Kramnik | 2006–2007 | Russia |
Viswanathan Anand | 2007–present | India |
Rows in italics represent the grey areas in the world chess history.
Viswanathan Anand became, for the first time, the undisputed World Chess Champion on September 29, 2007, after finishing the tournament with a score of 9/14, not losing a single game and a full point ahead of the second placer, Vladimir Kramnik.
To download the games in pgn and to view some pictures, visit chessbase.com.
Anand’s title, though, it appears, will be challenged again(!) next year sometime between May and September 2008 by no less than…. Vladimir Kramnik, in a best of 12 games one-on-one match. Why, read the wikipedia article.
For Kramnik’s part, I guess he’s better off playing a one-on-one match rather than playing in a round robin tournament. Just look at his 2000 match win agains Kasparov and the 2006 match against Topalov. Clear victories!
3 Comments
galing galing naman ni anand parang ako magaling sa pustahan
Wala yan, magpupustahan pa nga tau pag naglaban si Anand at Kramnik eh, Kramnik ako syempre! Ang galing galing ni Kramnik eh! hehehehe
wala