Vladimir Kramnik
Dethroned his own mentor, then reunified a divided World Championship.
Photo: Vladimir Barskij · CC BY-SA 3.0
Biography
Kramnik defeated Kasparov in 2000 to take the Classical title, defended it, and then in 2006 beat FIDE champion Veselin Topalov in a reunification match — becoming the first single, undisputed World Champion since the 1993 split.
He lost the newly unified title to Viswanathan Anand in 2007.
Playing Style
Deep positional understanding paired with outstanding opening preparation — most famously his revival of the once-unfashionable Berlin Defense as a rock-solid drawing weapon against 1.e4.
The 1993–2006 Title Split
In 1993, Kasparov and challenger Nigel Short broke away from FIDE to organize their own match under the Professional Chess Association (PCA), which Kasparov won. FIDE responded by stripping his title and running its own championship, won by Anatoly Karpov. For the next 13 years, two rival "World Champion" lines coexisted: the Classical line (Kasparov, then Kramnik from 2000) and the FIDE line (Karpov, then a series of knockout-tournament champions — Alexander Khalifman in 1999, Viswanathan Anand in 2000, Ruslan Ponomariov in 2002, and Rustam Kasimdzhanov in 2004). The split ended in 2006, when Kramnik defeated FIDE champion Veselin Topalov in a reunification match, restoring a single, undisputed champion for the first time in 13 years.
Notable Games
Kramnik vs. Kasparov
Kramnik's use of the Berlin Defense throughout this match was so effective it's now nicknamed "the Berlin Wall."
Fun Facts
- His Berlin Defense revival against Kasparov gave the line its "Berlin Wall" nickname.
- The 2006 reunification match was briefly overshadowed by a bizarre dispute over bathroom access, nicknamed "Toiletgate" by the press.