I am trying to compile some very special statistics: World Champions, who also ranked #1 in the world, as well as winning Olympiad Gold. Please feel free to add more names if you can think of any, or correct any mistake.
It is difficult to trace back to older champions as rating lists are hard to track down, and the rating system also only came out much later. As of right now, 3 different chess historians have confirmed that only 3 men and 3 women have ever accomplished this feat.
Men
Vladimir Kramnik – Garry Kasparov – Anatoly Karpov
Botvinnik – Spassky – Tal – Petrosian – Smyslov, etc. were in the non-rating era.
Women
Susan Polgar – Maia Chiburdanidze – Nona Gaprindashvili
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
So few?
So few?
There’s only ever been, what, seven men ranked #1?
Fischer, Karpov, Kasparov, Kramnik, Anand, Topalov, and Carlsen.
this shows how difficult it is to be both #1 and world champion at the same time
Interesting, but how do you compare Olympiad (team) with the other two?! How can I be Olympic Gold if my fellow players are lousy at chess?! Maybe I will change federation to Russia then.