The Current Top Players By Rating
The current FIDE World Champion is Viswanathan Anand of India, who is also #1 in the world by rating. He won the title in a tournament in 2007. The conditions of the event require that there be a rematch, one on one, with the previous FIDE World Champion, Vladimir Kramnik of Russia. The two will play the match sometime in 2008. (Some fans maintain that Vladimir Kramnik should still be called the World Champion, as they only want to recognize match titles, not multiple player tournament titles. However, there is precedent for both in FIDE history, and in any case there will be an Viswanathan Anand-Kramnik event to settle the matter soon.)
From 2002 until 2005, there was a great controversy over just who held the World Championship title, and there were multiple claimants at various time. All of that was resolved in 2007 in a long and complex reunification process.
Top Rated Players as of January 2008
Although world championship titles are granted only through specific events, many fans continue to use ratings to gauge their favorites. (Ratings represent lifetime historical activity, something like a lifetime batting average in baseball.)
As of January 2008, here were the top ten players on FIDE's official rating list:
| | Name | Country | Rating | Birthdate |
|---|
| 01 | Vladimir Kramnik | RUS | 2799 | 25.06.1975 |
| . | Viswanathan Anand | IND | 2799 | 11.12.1969 |
| 03 | Veselin Topalov | BUL | 2780 | 15.03.1975 |
| 04 | Alexander Morozevich | RUS | 2765 | 18.07.1977 |
| 05 | Peter Svidler | RUS | 2763 | 17.06.1976 |
| 06 | Shakhriyar Mamedyarov | AZE | 2760 | 1985 |
| 07 | Alexei Shirov | ESP | 2755 | 04.07.1972 |
| 08 | Peter Leko | HUN | 2753 | 08.09.1979 |
| 09 | Vasily Ivanchuk | UKR | 2751 | 1969 |
| 10 | Levon Aronian | ARM | 2739 | 1982 |
Former World Champion Garry Kasparov has retired from tournament play, and is no longer listed as an active player. His rating is 2804.
You can now return to the List of
Questions or continue down to read the History of World Championship Titles from 1972 through the Present.
Robert J. Fischer passed away in January 2008 at the age of 64 after an illness. He was living in Iceland. He continued to consider himself the World Champion until the time of his death, but had not played tournament chess for many years.
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Jeffrey L. Nauss wrote:
I noticed where each player in the
FIDE World Championships has three assistants. Title defender
Anatoly Karpov (RUS) is assisted by seconds GM Vladimir
Epishin (RUS), IM Mikhail Podgaets (UKR), and GM Ron Henley
(USA). Challenger Gata Kamsky (USA) is assisted by GM John
Fedorowicz (USA), GM Loek van Wely (NED) and GM Predrag
Nikolic (BIH). What are the roles of these seconds? What do
they do?
Seconds can perform three different roles in a chess match:
Player Representative, Trainer, and Analyst. Sometimes multiple
roles are done by one person.
As a Player Representative, the second in a chess match is
there to "insure fair play" much as the seconds in a
duel examined the equipment and the field prior to the duel
itself. In this way the player doesn't have to be distracted from
match preparation, nor do the principals have to meet ahead of
time. For example, if the match conditions specified a certain
type of chessboard or clock, it would be the second who would go
to the verification meeting and measure the squares, check the
timing, etc. This is an administrative function, and is usually
the role of the official second at each match. Obviously, the
player has to trust the second's judgment and ability to
represent him/her.
As a trainer, the second assists in the psychological,
emotional, and physical preparation of the player for the event.
This is a role that Roustam Kamsky has performed for his son
since Gata Kamsky was very young, and it's one of the reasons
that R. Kamsky was sometimes an official second during the
quarterfinals. (He also often acted as Player Representative.)
Finally, a second may assist in analysis during adjournment
periods or in between games. In the 50's and 60's there were many
stories of a player sleeping while his team of seconds analyzed
an adjourned position, and they then presented him with their
findings at a mutual session the next morning. This type of
assistance IS legal under FIDE rules provided the team has no
discussion with player during "active play" (while the
clock is ticking). An analyst may be added to a team because of
his/her expertise in a particular type of opening or position.
I believe that Epishin is Karpov's official Second for the
current match (the one who can act as Player's Representative).
GM Henley has been on Karpov's analysis team for many events. GM
John Fedorowicz was on Kamsky's analysis team during the PCA
quarterfinals; he may have done so at other events as well.
Seconds today are often active players in their own right.
While in the 1960's Seconds were often older players who had
turned to coaching and analysis, recent years have seen today's
young Grandmasters choosing players closer to their own age for
help in analysis and moral support. Some famous young Seconds in
recent matches:
- GM Judit Polgar, then only 19 years old and one of the
top 20 players in the World, acted as one of the Seconds
for her 26 year old sister, GM Zsuzsa Polgar, during a
recent event.
- GM Patrick Wolff, US Champion, acted as one of Indian
Champion Viswanathan Anand's seconds during several
recent events when both players were in their late
twenties.
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I see there's sometimes a big age difference between the two people
playing for the World Championship, like when FIDE Champion,
Anatoly Karpov, was 45, and Gata Kamsky, the Challenger, just
turned 22. I was wondering: who was the oldest
World Champion?
Most people count the "oldest" as going up until the
day the person lost the title. According to the Guiness
Book of Chess Records,
- The Oldest Champion
Wilhelm Steinitz, 58 years and 10 days, lost the title on
26 May 1894
- The Youngest Champion
Ruslan Ponomariov of the Ukraine, won the FIDE Championship title in January 2002 at the age of 18. (He replaced Garry Kasparov as the youngest Champion. Kasparov was 22 when he first won his title.)
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