Kramnik, Vladimir Borisovich

14th World Champion, 2006 - 2007 and PCA World Champion 2000 - 2006

Born 25 June, 1975. He has won three team gold medals and three individual medals at Chess Olympiads.
In October 2000, he defeated Garry Kasparov in a match played in London, and became the Classical/ PCA World Chess Champion. In late 2004, Kramnik successfully defended his title against challenger Péter Lékó in a drawn match played in Brissago, Switzerland.
In October 2006, Kramnik, the Classical/ PCA World Champion, defeated reigning FIDE World Champion Veselin Topalov in a unification match, the World Chess Championship 2006. As a result Kramnik became the first undisputed World Champion, holding both the FIDE and Classical/ PCA titles, since Kasparov split from FIDE in 1993.
In 2007, Kramnik lost the title to Viswanathan Anand, who won the World Chess Championship 2007 tournament ahead of him.