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    Vladimir Kramnik
    2018. Photo: Vladimir Barskij, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

    14THWorld chess champion

    Vladimir Kramnik

    Vladimir Kramnik was world champion 2000–2007, for 7 years. He won the title in 2000, beating Garry Kasparov 8½–6½ in London.

    Born
    25 June 1975 (age 51) · Tuapse, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
    Learned chess
    As a child he studied in Botvinnik's chess school
    Profiles
    FIDE World Chess MuseumFIDE ratingsWikipediaChessmetrics
    7 years
    World champion
    3 of 5
    Title events won or kept
    2817
    Peak FIDE rating, Oct 2016
    2795
    On today's scale: 17th of 18

    Every title event

    YearOpponentScoreResultGamesWhere
    2000Garry Kasparov8½–6½Won+2 −0 =13London
    2004Peter Leko7–7Drawn, kept the title+2 −2 =10Brissago
    2006Veselin Topalov6–6 / 2½–1½Won+3 −3 =6tiebreak +2 −1 =1Elista
    2007Tournament (winner: Viswanathan Anand)–2nd–Mexico City
    2008Viswanathan Anand6½–4½Lost+1 −3 =7Bonn

    Across 4 title matches, Kramnik won 8 games, lost 8 and drew 36: a score of 50% of the points against the best player of his day.

    Scores are listed winner first; a dash means the match wasn't played or was a tournament. Games are won, lost and drawn (+ − =) from Kramnik's side, counted from chessgames.com and shown only where they add up to the official score. Source: Wikipedia, List of World Chess Championships.

    Honours

    3
    World championship titles

    2000, 2004, 2006

    1
    FIDE World Cup

    2013

    3
    Olympiad team golds

    1992, 1994, 1996

    3
    Olympiad board golds

    1992, 2006, 2016

    1
    World team golds

    2013

    1
    European team golds

    1992

    2
    Chess Oscars

    2000, 2006

    Each year links to its source. World championship titles are title events won or kept. Olympiad board golds are the best score on a board. Most of these events didn't exist before the 1920s.

    Compare all 18 champions' honours

    Impact at home: Russia

    • HonoursIn 2006 he became the first undisputed world champion since Kasparov split from FIDE in 1993 source
    • GrowthWon a gold medal as first reserve for Russia at the 1992 Olympiad in Manila source
    • PoliticsHis selection for that team was controversial in Russia, as he was only a FIDE Master, but Kasparov supported it source
    • HonoursThe youngest ever to reach world No. 1, breaking Kasparov's record source

    Russia had 98 grandmasters when Kramnik became world champion in 2000. By 2010 Russia had 196, and by October 2026, 264.

    Measure2000when he became champion2010ten years on2026October 2026
    Grandmasters98196264
    In the world top 10022 Jan 2000 list15 Jan 2010 list6 Nov 2026 list

    Russia grandmasters, 1950–2026

    05010015020025030019501960197019801990200020102020Kramnik champion

    Move over the chart to see any year.

    Grandmasters by the year FIDE gave the title, from Wikipedia's list of all 2,162 grandmasters (October 2026). Top 100 from FIDE's rating lists (OlimpBase to 2001, then FIDE); FIDE's lists begin in 1971. These numbers show what happened around each champion, not what he caused: many things grow a country's chess.

    Rivalries

    Kasparov v KramnikTitle event 2000

    22 wins79 draws · 122 games21 wins

    Kramnik v AnandTitle events 2007, 2008

    32 wins144 draws · 208 games32 wins

    How strong was Kramnik?

    His highest official rating was 2817, on FIDE's Oct 2016 list, as world No. 2: 3rd of the 8 champions from Fischer on, whose peaks fall on FIDE's lists.

    That month the best other player was Magnus Carlsen, at 2853: 36 points higher. The top 10 averaged 2798; on today's scale (FIDE's Nov 2026 top 10 average 2777) his peak is about 2795, 17th of the 18 champions. How this is worked out.

    Chessmetrics also ranks him 9th of all time on three-year average (2815, 2000-Jan to 2002-Dec). Source.

    25002600270028002900199219962000200420082012201620202024Peak 2817 · Oct 2016
    FIDE standard rating on each list where Vladimir Kramnik was in the world top 100 (lists were published once or twice a year until 2000), and FIDE's own monthly record from April 2003. Sources: OlimpBase, FIDE.
    Every month as a table
    FIDE listRating
    Nov 20262753
    Oct 20262753
    Sep 20262753
    Aug 20262753
    Jul 20262753
    Jun 20262753
    May 20262753
    Apr 20262753
    Mar 20262753
    Feb 20262753
    Jan 20262753
    Dec 20252753
    Nov 20252753
    Oct 20252753
    Sep 20252753
    Aug 20252753
    Jul 20252753
    Jun 20252753
    May 20252753
    Apr 20252753
    Mar 20252753
    Feb 20252753
    Jan 20252753
    Dec 20242753
    Nov 20242753
    Oct 20242753
    Sep 20242753
    Aug 20242753
    Jul 20242753
    Jun 20242753
    May 20242753
    Apr 20242753
    Mar 20242753
    Feb 20242753
    Jan 20242753
    Dec 20232753
    Nov 20232753
    Oct 20232753
    Sep 20232753
    Aug 20232753
    Jul 20232753
    Jun 20232753
    May 20232753
    Apr 20232753
    Mar 20232753
    Feb 20232753
    Jan 20232753
    Dec 20222753
    Nov 20222753
    Oct 20222753
    Sep 20222753
    Aug 20222753
    Jul 20222753
    Jun 20222753
    May 20222753
    Apr 20222753
    Mar 20222753
    Feb 20222753
    Jan 20222753
    Dec 20212753
    Nov 20212753
    Oct 20212753
    Sep 20212753
    Aug 20212753
    Jul 20212753
    Jun 20212753
    May 20212753
    Apr 20212753
    Mar 20212753
    Feb 20212753
    Jan 20212753
    Dec 20202753
    Nov 20202753
    Oct 20202753
    Sep 20202753
    Aug 20202753
    Jul 20202753
    Jun 20202753
    May 20202753
    Apr 20202753
    Mar 20202753
    Feb 20202753
    Jan 20202753
    Dec 20192753
    Nov 20192753
    Oct 20192753
    Sep 20192753
    Aug 20192753
    Jul 20192753
    Jun 20192753
    May 20192753
    Apr 20192753
    Mar 20192753
    Feb 20192753
    Jan 20192777
    Dec 20182777
    Nov 20182777
    Oct 20182779
    Sep 20182779
    Aug 20182779
    Jul 20182792
    Jun 20182792
    May 20182792
    Apr 20182792
    Mar 20182800
    Feb 20182800
    Jan 20182787
    Dec 20172787
    Nov 20172787
    Oct 20172794
    Sep 20172803
    Aug 20172803
    Jul 20172812
    Jun 20172808
    May 20172811
    Apr 20172811
    Mar 20172811
    Feb 20172811
    Jan 20172811
    Dec 20162809
    Nov 20162810
    Oct 20162817
    Sep 20162808
    Aug 20162808
    Jul 20162812
    Jun 20162812
    May 20162801
    Apr 20162801
    Mar 20162801
    Feb 20162801
    Jan 20162801
    Dec 20152796
    Nov 20152796
    Oct 20152777
    Sep 20152777
    Aug 20152777
    Jul 20152783
    Jun 20152783
    May 20152777
    Apr 20152783
    Mar 20152783
    Feb 20152783
    Jan 20152783
    Dec 20142769
    Nov 20142760
    Oct 20142760
    Sep 20142760
    Aug 20142760
    Jul 20142777
    Jun 20142783
    May 20142783
    Apr 20142783
    Mar 20142787
    Feb 20142787
    Jan 20142787
    Dec 20132793
    Nov 20132793
    Oct 20132796
    Sep 20132794
    Aug 20132784
    Jul 20132784
    Jun 20132803
    May 20132811
    Apr 20132801
    Mar 20132810
    Feb 20132810
    Jan 20132810
    Dec 20122795
    Nov 20122795
    Oct 20122795
    Sep 20122797
    Aug 20122797
    Jul 20122799
    May 20122801
    Mar 20122801
    Jan 20122801
    Nov 20112800
    Sep 20112791
    Jul 20112781
    May 20112785
    Mar 20112785
    Jan 20112784
    Nov 20102791
    Sep 20102780
    Jul 20102790
    May 20102790
    Mar 20102790
    Jan 20102788
    Nov 20092772
    Sep 20092772
    Jul 20092759
    Apr 20092759
    Jan 20092759
    Oct 20082772
    Jul 20082788
    Apr 20082788
    Jan 20082799
    Oct 20072785
    Jul 20072769
    Apr 20072772
    Jan 20072766
    Oct 20062750
    Jul 20062743
    Apr 20062729
    Jan 20062741
    Oct 20052739
    Jul 20052744
    Apr 20052753
    Jan 20052754
    Oct 20042760
    Jul 20042770
    Apr 20042764
    Jan 20042777
    Oct 20032777
    Jul 20032785
    Apr 20032789
    Jan 20032809
    Oct 20022809
    Jul 20022809
    Apr 20022811
    Jan 20022811
    Oct 20012809
    Jul 20012802
    Apr 20012802
    Jan 20012772
    Oct 20002772
    Jul 20002770
    Jan 20002758
    Jul 19992760
    Jan 19992751
    Jul 19982780
    Jan 19982790
    Jul 19972770
    Jan 19972740
    Jul 19962765
    Jan 19962775
    Jul 19952730
    Jan 19952715
    Jul 19942725
    Jan 19942710
    Jul 19932710
    Jan 19932685
    Jul 19922625
    Jan 19922590

    The road to the title

    1. 1992-06

      30th Chess Olympiad (Manila)[1]

      Gold medal for best performance: 8 wins, 1 draw (2958)

      Only a FIDE Master, his selection was controversial; Kasparov backed it

    2. 2000-11-04

      Classical World Chess Championship Match vs. Garry Kasparov (London)[1]

      Began as the underdog

      His Berlin Defence against Kasparov's Ruy Lopez proved very effective

    3. 2000-11-04

      Classical world champion[1]

      Won 8½–6½ without losing a game

      Kasparov's first lost title match; only Lasker (1921) had lost one without winning a game

    4. 2004-10-18

      Classical World Championship Defense Match vs. Peter Leko (Brissago)[1]

      Drew 7–7, winning the last game

      Lékó led until the final game; Kramnik kept the title

    5. 2006-10-13

      World Chess Championship Reunification Match vs. Veselin Topalov (Elista)[1]

      Won

      The first undisputed champion since the 1993 split

    What Kramnik changed about chess

    • openingHis Berlin Defence in the 2000 match made the opening hugely popular; he was also the leading exponent of the Petrov and revived the Catalan.[1]
    • strategyKasparov called his style pragmatic and tenacious, like Karpov's; he lost only one game in over 100 before the 2000 match.[1]
    • strategyHis results with White against the King's Indian made Kasparov drop the opening, and it fell out of top-level favour for years.[1]

    Achievements

    • 2006-10-1314th Undisputed World Chess Champion (2006–2007) and Classical World Champion (2000–2006)[1]
    • 2006-10-13Reunified the title in 2006, the first undisputed champion since 1993[1]
    • 2016-10Peak FIDE rating 2817 (October 2016), joint-eighth highest ever[1]
    • 1995–2011Won Dortmund (outright or tied) ten times, 1995–2011[1]

    Famous games

    • Levon Aronian v Vladimir Kramnik, Candidates Tournament 2018 2018 · 0–1[1]

      With a novelty found years earlier, Kramnik skipped castling to attack, ending with a rook sacrifice and unstoppable mate threats.

      Vladimir Kramnik
      Levon Aronian

      Start position

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      28. 0–1

      Arrow keys step through the moves; click any move to jump to it. Pieces by Colin M. L. Burnett (BSD licence).

      Game score: chessgames.com

    • Vladimir Kramnik v Garry Kasparov, Classical World Championship 2000, game 2 2000 · 1–0[1]

      One of his two wins, both with White, in the match that took Kasparov's title.

      Garry Kasparov
      Vladimir Kramnik

      Start position

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      41. 1–0

      Arrow keys step through the moves; click any move to jump to it. Pieces by Colin M. L. Burnett (BSD licence).

      Game score: chessgames.com

    • Vladimir Kramnik v Peter Leko, Classical World Championship 2004, game 14 2004 · 1–0[1]

      He had to win the last game to keep his title, and did.

      Peter Leko
      Vladimir Kramnik

      Start position

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      42. 1–0

      Arrow keys step through the moves; click any move to jump to it. Pieces by Colin M. L. Burnett (BSD licence).

      Game score: chessgames.com

    In his words

    "I already decided to finish my professional chess career a couple of months ago and now, after having played my last tournament, I would like to announce it publicly."[1]

    More on Vladimir Kramnik

    Quick answers

    When was Vladimir Kramnik world chess champion?

    2000–2007: 7 years. He won the title in 2000, beating Garry Kasparov 8½–6½ in London.

    What was Vladimir Kramnik's highest FIDE rating?

    2817, on FIDE's Oct 2016 list, when he was world No. 2. That is 3rd of the 8 champions from Fischer on.

    Sources

    1. [1] en.wikipedia.org: "his first notable result in a major tournament was his gold medal win as first reserve for the Russian team in the 1992 Chess Olympiad in Manila. His selection for the team caused some controversy in Russia at the time, as he was only a FIDE Master, but Garry Kasparov supported it. He scored eight wins, one draw, and no losses, a performance of 2958, which won a gold medal for best rating performance."