Russia’s top 10
| 1 | Kramnik, Vladimir | g | RUS | 2772 | 10 | 1975 |
| 2 | Morozevich, Alexander | g | RUS | 2750 | 18 | 1977 |
| 3 | Jakovenko, Dmitry | g | RUS | 2742 | 24 | 1983 |
| 4 | Svidler, Peter | g | RUS | 2741 | 9 | 1976 |
| 5 | Grischuk, Alexander | g | RUS | 2733 | 0 | 1983 |
| 6 | Alekseev, Evgeny | g | RUS | 2725 | 23 | 1985 |
| 7 | Malakhov, Vladimir | g | RUS | 2715 | 10 | 1980 |
| 8 | Motylev, Alexander | g | RUS | 2710 | 0 | 1979 |
| 9 | Rublevsky, Sergei | g | RUS | 2703 | 0 | 1974 |
| 10 | Tomashevsky, Evgeny | g | RUS | 2688 | 7 | 1987 |
Ukraine’s top 10
| 1 | Ivanchuk, Vassily | g | UKR | 2756 | 42 | 1969 |
| 2 | Ponomariov, Ruslan | g | UKR | 2741 | 9 | 1983 |
| 3 | Karjakin, Sergey | g | UKR | 2722 | 13 | 1990 |
| 4 | Eljanov, Pavel | g | UKR | 2717 | 13 | 1983 |
| 5 | Moiseenko, Alexander | g | UKR | 2694 | 20 | 1980 |
| 6 | Miroshnichenko, Evgenij | g | UKR | 2690 | 28 | 1978 |
| 7 | Volokitin, Andrei | g | UKR | 2681 | 2 | 1986 |
| 8 | Areshchenko, Alexander | g | UKR | 2667 | 9 | 1986 |
| 9 | Efimenko, Zahar | g | UKR | 2654 | 0 | 1985 |
| 10 | Baklan, Vladimir | g | UKR | 2646 | 18 | 1978 |
Source: FIDE September 2009
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
Kramnik is the true world champion.
Stop hatin!! dont hate the playa hate the game! Susan i got that guy hoodstyle!!!! haha
Finally, someone realizes the truth here. The only man to beat Kasparov in a match, force to give up his title in Mexico City and the re-challenge for Title the as the challenger. When we see Anand’s record against Kasparov it is 8 wins and 28 loses, how can he even call himself the Champion? Then we have his challenger, Topalov, who was throughly thrashed by Kramnik with a game in the hand.
So now we have the World Champion (8 wins, 28 loses) vs Topalov (thrashed by Kramnik) playing for a World Title???
Who would believe the outcome? This is a coffeehouse match of the new century. Nothing more!
Until someone challenges and beats Kramnik in a real (24 game) match like in the real days of chess, the most people will still regard Kramnik as the true World Champion and King.
I completely agree.
Kramnik should play World Championship matches until he wins. After that FIDE should switch back to 24 game matches. Such a match should start with 12-0 lead for the incubent Champion – Kramnik. In case of 12-12 tie the champion-Kramnik should keep the title.
This is how it should be done. This is how it MUST be done. Kramnik the internal champion.
You know it makes sence.
Kramnik is NOT and will NOT be World Champion!
1. Topalov is #1 in the world so if he is not a good challenger then who is?
2. Topalov wasn’t ‘thrashed’ by Kramnik.
3. It’s ridiculous argument that Kramnik should lose his title in 24-game-match because… he won it in 16-game-match!!! So who is a real champion? Kasparov?
4. Kasparov is +28 -8 with Anand. Anand is +23 -16 with Kramnik. So what?!
I hope it’s only a stupid provocation…
Wow, Chucky is really having a busy schedule – 42 FIDE-rated games in that period alone, not to mention blitz and rapid. Cudos!
The other remarks here are just plain silly or at best a sad attempt to provoke. Kramnik was no match to Anand in their Bonn encounter. While he sure is one of the best in the game he is certainly no World Champ (anymore). Period.
Beelze
I thought Karjakin became a russian…
That’s right, Topalov was not “thrashed” by Kramnik… he just sent his manager out looking for any excuse to avoid being crushed like an egg shell. The fear was so great that the Great Topalov manager, Danialov claimed Kramnik’s chess was so good it must have come from a machine hidden in Kramnik’s toilet. Maybe “thrashed” is not a good word when a challenger ends up in the opponents lavatory begging to find an excuse for his pitiful performance.
As for Anand it is much easier to play as the defending champion and having Kramnik as the challenger. It is psychological you know, like when Karpov had his psychic stare at Korchnoi. It has an effect. Plus the match was so short they should have flipped a coin.
A true World Champion is determined by 24 game match. Yes the Kasparov-Kramnik match was 16 games but it does not matter as Kasparov was begging to get out of there, wanting never to see the Berlin Defense again, his reign was over.
Sorry, but Kramnik is the only true World Champion considered by the majority and will not lose it until he gets beaten in a standard match with a challenger. Topalov-Anand is coffeehouse stuff.
@anon 6:28: I believe kramnik wasnt just beaten, but was humiliated in his match against Anand last year, yes anand had a bad score against kasparov, but kramnik has a bad score against anand. Thats just how it is. To be honest, Anand and Kramnik and Topalov are all roughly equal, but for the record, Anand won the last 2 legit wch matches, so that makes him wch. btw, I think its only a matter of time before Aronian becomes Wch 🙂
I thought Sergey Karjakin is now playing for Russia and not longer for Ukraine.
To Anonimous from Tuesday, September 1, 2009 6:28:00 PM CDT
Dude, don’t make me laugh more!
Take a beer, go out for a walk , look at how beautifuul is world when Kramnik is not WC;) Listen the song of birds! It’s wonderful, isn’t it?
I completely agree with the previous moron – I mean poster
Bow down to Kramnik – the eternal Champion. Our Führer.
Heil Kramnik.
“Heil Kramnik”
Translated in Tagalog, this means “small rubber hose”.
hahah.