The World Chess Championship 2010 match pitted the defending world champion, Viswanathan Anand, against challenger

Veselin Topalov, for the title of World Chess Champion. The match took place in Sofia, Bulgaria from April 24 to May 13, 2010, with a prize fund of 2 million euros (60% to the winner).[2] In a dramatic finish, Anand won the match 65 to retain the title. The match was to be twelve games,[3] with tie-breaks if necessary, the same format and length as the 2006 and 2008 matches. The start of the match was delayed one day due to air travel disruptions caused by the volcanic ash emissions from Eyjafjallajkull. Anand was to fly from Frankfurt to Sofia on April 16 and was stranded because of the eruption. He asked for a three day postponement, which was refused by the organisers on April 19. Anand finally reached Sofia on April 20, after a 40-hour road journey.[4] The first game was consequently delayed by one day.[5] iswanathan Anand, (Tamil: ; pronounced IPA: [inatn annd]; born 11 December 1969) is an Indian chess Grandmaster and the current World Chess Champion. He held the FIDE World Chess Championship from 2000 to 2002, at a time when the world title was split. He became the undisputed World Champion in 2007 and defended his title against Vladimir Kramnik in 2008. With this win, he became the first player in chess history to have won the World Championship in three different formats: Knockout, Tournament, and Match, and also became the fourth player to be undisputed World Champion and hold the world number one ranking at the same time, after Bobby Fischer, Anatoly Karpov, and Garry Kasparov. He then successfully defended his title in the World Chess Championship 2010 against Veselin Topalov. As the reigning champion, he will face the winner of the Candidates Tournament for the World Chess Championship 2012. Anand is one of five players in history to break the 2800 mark on the FIDE rating list, and in April 2007 at the age of 37, he became the world number-one for the first time. He was at the top of the world rankings five out of six times, from April 2007 to July 2008, holding the number-one ranking for a total of 15 months. In October 2008, he dropped out of the world top three ranking for the first time since July 1996. Anand unofficially regained the world number one rating in October 2010 when he defeated Magnus Carlsen in the Bilbao Masters. In 2007, he was awarded India's second highest civilian award, the Padma Vibhushan, making him the first sportsperson to receive the award in Indian history. He was also the first recipient of the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award in 199192, India's highest sporting honor. eselin Topalov (pronounced [vslin toplof]; Bulgarian: ; born 15 March 1975), is a Bulgarian chess grandmaster. He currently has the second highest rating in the world,[1] and was the challenger facing world champion Viswanathan Anand in the World Chess Championship 2010, losing the match 6-5. Topalov became the FIDE World Chess Champion by winning the FIDE World Chess Championship 2005. He lost his title in the World Chess Championship 2006 match against Vladimir Kramnik. Topalov won the 2005 Chess Oscar.[2] He was ranked #1 in the world from April 2006 to January 2007, during which his Elo rating was 2813, which had been surpassed only by Garry Kasparov, and subsequently by Magnus Carlsen. He regained the world #1 ranking again in October 2008, and officially remained #1 until January 2010, when he fell to #2 behind Magnus Carlsen.[3] He has been ranked number one a total of 27 months in his career, fourth all-time since the inception of the FIDE ranking lists in 1971 behind only Garry Kasparov, Anatoly Karpov, and Bobby Fischer. Garry Kimovich Kasparov (Russian: , Russian pronunciation: [ar kimvt k sparf]; born Garry Kimovich Weinstein, 13 April 1963) is a Russian (formerly Soviet) chess grandmaster, a

former World Chess Champion, writer, and political activist, whom many consider the greatest chess player of all time.[1] Kasparov became the youngest ever undisputed World Chess Champion in 1985 at the age of 22.[2] He held the official FIDE world title until 1993, when a dispute with FIDE led him to set up a rival organization, the Professional Chess Association. He continued to hold the "Classical" World Chess Championship until his defeat by Vladimir Kramnik in 2000. He is also widely known for being the first world chess champion to lose a match to a computer, when he lost to Deep Blue in 1997. Kasparov's ratings achievements include being rated world #1 according to Elo rating almost continuously from 1986 until his retirement in 2005 and holding the all-time highest rating of 2851.[3] He was the world number-one ranked player for 255 months, by far the most of all-time and nearly three times as long as his closest rival, Anatoly Karpov. He also holds records for consecutive tournament victories and Chess Oscars. From 1984 to 1990, Kasparov was a member of the Central Committee of Komsomol and a CPSU member. Kasparov announced his retirement from professional chess on 10 March 2005, to devote his time to politics and writing. He formed the United Civil Front movement, and joined as a member of The Other Russia, a coalition opposing the administration of Vladimir Putin. He was a candidate for the 2008 Russian presidential race, but later withdrew. Widely regarded in the West as a symbol of opposition to Putin, Kasparov's support in Russia is low.[4][5] In 2007, he was ranked 25th in The Daily Telegraph's list of 100 greatest living geniuses.[6] He coached Magnus Carlsen from March 2009 through March 2010.[7][8] ven Magnus en Carlsen (born 30 November 1990) is a Norwegian chess Grandmaster and chess prodigy currently ranked number one in the world on the official FIDE rating list. He has achieved a rating exceeded only by Garry Kasparov.[1][2] On 26 April 2004 Carlsen became a Grandmaster at the age of 13 years, 148 days, making him the third-youngest Grandmaster in history. On 1 January 2010 the new FIDE rating list was published, and at the age of 19 years, 32 days he became the youngest chess player in history to be ranked world number one, breaking the record previously held by Vladimir Kramnik.[3] Carlsen is also the 2009 World blitz chess champion. His performance at the SeptemberOctober 2009 Nanjing Pearl Spring tournament has been described as one of the greatest in history[4] and lifted him to an Elo rating of 2801, making him the fifth player to achieve a rating over 2800 and aged 17 years 10 months at the time, by far the youngest to do so. Based on his rating, Carlsen has qualified for the Candidates Tournament which will determine the challenger to face World Champion Viswanathan Anand in the World Chess Championship 2012. Anatoly Yevgenyevich Karpov (Russian: Anatolij Evgen'evi Karpov; born May 23, 1951) is a Soviet and Russian chess grandmaster and former World Champion. He was official world champion from 1975 to 1985, played three more matches for the title from 1986 to 1990, then was FIDE World Champion from 1993 to 1999. For his decades-long standing among the world's elite, Karpov is considered one of the greatest players of all time. His tournament successes include over 160 first-place finishes.[1] He had a peak Elo rating of 2780, and his 90 total months at world number-one are second all-time behind only Garry Kasparov since the inception of the FIDE ranking list in 1971.

Since 2005, he has been a member of the Public Chamber of Russia. He has recently involved himself in several humanitarian causes, such as advocating the use of iodised salt.[ Robert James "Bobby" Fischer (March 9, 1943 January 17, 2008) was an American chess player and the eleventh World Chess Champion. He is widely considered one of the greatest chess players of all time. Widely considered a "chess legend",[1] at age 13 Fischer played and won a brilliancy that became known as the Game of the Century. Starting at age 14, he played in eight United States Championships, winning each by at least a point. At 15, he became both the youngest Grandmaster and the youngest Candidate for the World Championship up until that time. He won the 196364 US championship 110, the only perfect score in the history of the tournament. In the early 1970s he became the most dominant player in modern historywinning the 1970 Interzonal by a record 3-point margin and winning 20 consecutive games, including two unprecedented 60 sweeps in the Candidates Matches. According to research by Jeff Sonas, in 1971 Fischer had separated himself from the rest of the world by a larger margin of playing skill than any player since the 1870s.[2] He became the first official World Chess Federation (Fdration Internationale des checs) (FIDE) number one rated chessplayer in July 1971, and his 54 total months at number one is the third longest of all-time. In 1972, he wrested the World Championship from Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union in a match held in Reykjavk, Iceland that was widely publicized as a Cold War battle. In 1975, Fischer did not defend his title when he could not come to agreement with FIDE over the conditions for the match. He became more reclusive and played no more competitive chess until 1992, when he won a rematch against Spassky. The competition was held in Yugoslavia, which was then under a strict United Nations embargo.[3][4][5] This led to a conflict with the US government, and he never returned to his native country. In his later years, Fischer lived in Hungary, Germany, the Philippines, and Japan. During this time he made increasingly anti-American and antisemitic statements, despite his Jewish ancestry. After his U.S. passport was revoked over the Yugoslavia sanctions issue, he was detained by Japanese authorities for nine months in 2004 and 2005 under threat of deportation. In February 2005, Iceland granted him right of residence as a "stateless" alien and issued him a passport.[6] When Japan refused to release him to Iceland with that status, Iceland's parliament voted in March 2005 to give him full citizenship.[7] The Japanese authorities then released him to that country, where he lived until his death in 2008.[8] Vladimir Borisovich Kramnik (Russian: ; born 25 June 1975) is a Russian chess grandmaster. He was the Classical World Chess Champion from 2000 to 2006, and the undisputed World Chess Champion from 2006 to 2007. In October 2000, he defeated Garry Kasparov in a match played in London, and became the Classical World Chess Champion. In late 2004, Kramnik successfully defended his title against challenger Pter Lk in a drawn match played in Brissago, Switzerland. In October 2006, Kramnik, the Classical 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 titles, since Kasparov split from FIDE in 1993. In 2007, Kramnik lost the title to Viswanathan Anand, who won the World Chess Championship tournament ahead of Kramnik. He challenged Anand at the World Chess Championship 2008 to regain his title, but lost. Kramnik has qualified for the Candidates Tournament which will determine the challenger to face World Champion Anand in the World Chess Championship 2012. The FIDE World Chess Championship 2005 took place in Potrero de los Funes, San Luis Province in Argentina from September 27 to October 16, 2005. It was won by Veselin Topalov.

Contents
[hide]

1 Background 2 Results 3 Aftermath 4 References 5 Further reading 6 External links

[edit] Background
In the face of criticism of the Knock-Out FIDE World Chess Championships held from 1998 to 2004, FIDE (the World Chess Federation) made changes for its World Chess Championship in 2005. It used normal (slow) time controls (unlike the 2002 and 2004 Knock-Out tournaments), and changed the format to an eight player, double round robin event, where every player plays every other player twice, once with each colour. The players invited were:

The finalists from the previous (2004) FIDE World Championship: Rustam Kasimdzhanov and Michael Adams; Classical World Champion Vladimir Kramnik, and his most recent challenger, Pter Lk; The next top four rated players: Garry Kasparov, Viswanathan Anand, Veselin Topalov and Alexander Morozevich.[1] Kramnik refused to play (see #Aftermath section below), as did the recently retired Kasparov. Their places were taken by the next two players on the FIDE rating list: Peter Svidler and Judit Polgr.

The participation of Judit Polgr made her the first woman to compete for the world chess championship. The opening ceremony took place on September 27, the matches started on September 28, and the closing ceremony took place on October 16.

[edit] Results
The final standings were:
N 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Name Veselin Topalov Viswanathan Anand Peter Svidler Alexander Morozevich Pter Lk Rustam Kasimdzhanov Michael Adams Judit Polgr Fed BUL IND RUS RUS HUN UZB ENG HUN ELO Chg 2788 +102 2788 +19 2738 +76 2707 +36 2763 -52 2670 +2 2719 -53 2735 -125 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 3 0 1 0 1 4 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 5 1 1 0 1 0 1 6 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 7 1 1 1 1 0 8 1 1 Score 10 8 8 7 6 5 5 4

The Elo rating system is a method for calculating the relative skill levels of players in two-player games such as chess. It is named after its creator Arpad Elo, a Hungarian-born American physics professor. The Elo system was invented as an improved chess rating system, but today it is also used in many other games. It is also used as a rating system for multiplayer competition in a number of computer games,[1] and has been

adapted to team sports including association football, American college football and basketball, and Major League Baseball.

Mikhail Botvinnik (1948-1957, 1958-1960, 1961-1963) Vasily Smyslov (1957-1958) Mikhail Tal (1960-1961) Tigran Petrosian (1963-1969) Boris Spassky (1969-1972) Robert James "Bobby" Fischer (1972-1975) Anatoly Karpov (1975-1985) Garry Kasparov (1985-2000) Vladimir Kramnik (2000-2007) Viswanathan Anand (2007-current)

FIDE World Chess Champions

When Garry Kasparov split with FIDE and organized his 1993 World Championship match with Nigel Short, FIDE declared that they still controlled the World Championship title and staged their own championships. While the FIDE title did not carry the prestige of the classical World Championship, these players are still worth noting for historical perspective.

Anatoly Karpov (1993-1999) Alexander Khalifman (1999-2000) Viswanathan Anand (2000-2002) Ruslan Ponomariov (2002-2004) Rustam Kasimdzhanov (2004-2005) Veselin Topalov (2005-2006)

In 2006, the two titles were united when Classical World Champion Vladimir Kramnik defeated FIDE Champion Veselin Topalov in a reunification match.

Garry Kasparov

1963 13th World Champion, 1985 - 1993 PCA Champion, 1993 - present Garry Kimovich Kasparov was born Gary Weinstein in Baku, Azerbaijan, USSR in 1963. Kasparov learned to play chess from his father who later died in a road accident when he was 7 years old. He subsequently changed his name to Kasparov, a Russified version of his mother's maiden name, Kasparyan. Kasparov's chess talent was apparent at an early age. In 1973 he attended the Botvinnik Chess School and Kasparov continued to make rapid progress. In 1975 at the age of 12 he became the youngest ever player to win the USSR Junior Championship. At 16 he won the World Junior Championship. He achieved the title of Grandmaster on his 17th birthday In 1984 he challenged the current reigning World Champion, Anatoly Karpov for the title. This match was a hard fought battle and lasted 6 months, the longest in the history of chess. It was finally stopped by Florencio Campomanes, president of FIDE and a rematch ordered. In November 1985 Kasparov won the rematch against Karpov and became the youngest World Champion at the age of 22 years. After long term friction with the international chess organisation, FIDE, Kasparov set up the rival organisation, the Professional Chess Association (PCA) and arranged a World Championship match in 1993 in which he beat British Grandmaster, Nigel Short. At the same time FIDE held their official Championship match between former World Champion, Anatoly Karpov and Jan Timman which Karpov won. Both Kasparov and Karpov claim the title of World Champion. In 1996 Kasparov competed in a six game match against an IBM computer called Deep Blue. Kasparov won with a score of 4 games to 2 games. The following year, he competed against an improved version called Deeper Blue and was defeated 3.5 games to 2.5 games. It was the first time a Grandmaster had lost a series of games to a computer. He is currently the highest rated player there has ever been in the history of chess.

Anatoly Karpov

1951 12th World Champion, 1975 - 1985 FIDE Champion 1993 - present Anatoly Evgenievich Karpov was born in Zlatoust, Russia in 1951. He was taught the moves of chess when he was 4. At the age of 15 he became one of the youngest Soviet players ever to gain the title of National Master. In April 1975, a few days before his 24th birthday FIDE declared him the World Champion after Bobby Fischer, the current World Champion, refused to defend his title. Karpov was embarrassed that he had acquired the title in this manner and subsequently played in many strong tournaments to prove that he deserved to be World Champion. He performed impressively and accumulated the finest tournament record in history. He once said, "To be champion requires more than simply being a strong player; one has to be a strong human being as well." He retained his title until losing to Garry Kasparov in a controversial match in 1985. In 1993 Kasparov rejected FIDE leaving Karpov to play in the official FIDE World Championship match in which he defeated Jan Timman of the Netherlands. However, his victory was over-shadowed by the independent championship match played at the same time between the current World Champion, Kasparov and British Grandmaster, Nigel Short. Both Karpov and Kasparov won their championship matches and both claim the title of World Champion. His style of play is positional. He describes his game philosophy as follows: "Let us say the game may be continued in two ways: one of them is a beautiful tactical blow that gives rise to variations that don't yield to precise calculation; the other is clear positional pressure that leads to an endgame with microscopic chances of victory.... I would choose the latter without thinking twice. If the opponent offers keen play I don't object; but in such cases I get less satisfaction, even if I win, than from a game conducted according to all the rules of strategy with its ruthless logic."

Robert (Bobby) Fischer

1943 11th World Champion, 1972 - 1975 Robert James Fischer is considered by many to be the greatest chess player of all time. He was born in Chicago, USA in 1943 and brought up in Brooklyn where his mother moved after she was divorced in 1945. He learned to play chess at the age of 6 and soon became deeply absorbed in the game saying "All I want to do, ever, is play chess." At the age of 13 he became the youngest national junior chess champion in the USA and at the age of 14 he became the youngest senior US Champion. In 1958, at the age of 15, he became the youngest Grandmaster in the history of chess. He broke the Soviet domination of the World Championship when he became the first American to win the title by defeating Boris Spassky of the USSR in Reykjavik, Iceland in 1972. In 1975 FIDE refused to meet Fischer's conditions for a World Championship match with the Soviet Anatoly Karpov and Fischer refused to play. Consequently FIDE awarded the title of World Champion to Karpov. After this dispute Fischer vanished from public eye for twenty years and moved to Europe. In 1996 Fischer launched a new game called "Fischerandom Chess" in which the major pieces on the back rank are randomly shuffled behind their pawns. Fischer maintained that this form of chess was a better test of a player's skill and got away from opening theory homework
Throughout the history of chess, humanity has continually held a fascination with those rare individuals whose immense skill and success at the game makes them deserving of being labeled "The Strongest Player on Earth." The title of World Chess Champion is the embodiment of this notion. This page is both a brief history of the World Chess Championship and an index of all of the modern championship matches. For many centuries, there was no formal world chess championship, but there were nonetheless a select few who achieved fame for their ideas and successes over the chess board, and sometimes even for their writings. Each player below was recognized in his respective time as the strongest chess player in the world. The years indicate the approximate time period when each could be considered world champion in an unofficial capacity.

player
Luis Ramirez de Lucena Pedro Damiano Ruy Lopez de Segura Leonardo da Cutri Paolo Boi Alessandro Salvio Gioachino Greco Kermur Sire De Legal Francois-Andre Philidor Alexandre Deschapelles Louis De La Bourdonnais Pierre de Saint Amant Howard Staunton Adolf Anderssen Paul Morphy Adolf Anderssen Wilhelm Steinitz

years ~ 1490 ~ 1520 ~ 1560 ~ 1575 ~ 1575 ~ 1600 ~ 1620 ~ 1730-1747 ~ 1747-1795 ~ 1800-1820 ~ 1820-1840
1842-1843 1843-1851 1851-1858 1858-1862 1862-1866 1866-1878

countr y
Spain Portugal Spain Italy Italy Italy Italy France France France France France England Germany USA Germany Austria

Johannes Zukertort 1879-1886 Poland click player name for biography, stats, discussion, and more

In the 1850s, America's foremost chess player was a young man from Louisiana named Paul Morphy. In 1858, Morphy traveled overseas to play against the finest competition that Europe had to offer. Morphy annihilated the opposition, including the German attacking genius Adolf Anderssen, who was widely regarded as the strongest player of the day. Morphy had proven himself in every way a World Chess Champion. After his European tour, Morphy returned to the states, and announced his retirement from chess. Morphy's retirement in 1862 left a vacuum in the chess world, and the simple question, "Who is the best?" lacked a definitive answer. Anderssen was a likely choice, but it wasn't long before people turned their attention to an Austrian chess sensation named Wilhelm Steinitz, whose daring attacking style had earned him the nickname "The Austrian Morphy". When Steinitz defeated Anderssen in 1866, Steinitz was widely regarded as the world's best, and would be for decades to come.

In the 1870s, a Polish immigrant to the United Kingdom named Johannes Zukertort was gaining worldwide attention. By the 1880s many believed that he had surpassed Steinitz, which was further confirmed when Zukertort won the London tournament of 1883, defeating nearly every leading player in the world, finishing three points above second-place Steinitz. The stage was finally set for the first official World Chess Championship. So who was better, really? In 1886 these two masters settled the question in the only acceptable way: they played a long chess match. Although not held under the aegis of any official organization, most chess historians regard the Steinitz-Zukertort match as the first official World Chess Championship, because it started a grand tradition. This tradition is characterized by several components, chief among which are:

1. The title is determined by a match of sufficient length to demonstrate a superiority of one player over the other. 2. The winner of the match becomes heir to the title of World Chess Champion, the highest title there is. 3. The title, although intangible, is treated for all purposes like a physical object which may be possessed by only one person at a time. 4. The reigning champion can only relinquish the title by losing a subsequent match to a competitor, or by retiring, or by death. 5. From time to time, the reigning champion is obligated to defend his title against the strongest challengers. Starting with Steinitz, the title of World Chess Champion has been handed down through the generations from one player to another, like an Olympic torch. In 1948, Alexander Alekhine passed away, and forced the chess world to resolve a novel dilemma: the death of a reigning champion. Due to this problematic interregnum, a French chess organization founded in 1924, inactive since 1939, suddenly rocketed to prominence. Fdration Internationale des checs (FIDE) proposed a solution that a title tournament take place inviting the world's most prominent players. The plan was successful, and led to the 1948 FIDE World Chess Championship Tournament which crowned Mikhail Botvinnik as World Chess Champion and established a more formal system of selecting candidates for the future. This system worked reasonably well, until 1993, when World Champion Garry Kasparov made the historic decision to break his allegiance to FIDE. Unhappy with the bidding process to select the site for the match, FIDE's lack of consultation with the players, and the 20% cut of the prize fund going to FIDE, Kasparov declared that he would defend the title outside of the auspices of FIDE. This created a split title, in which Kasparov played title defense matches under a newly created organization called the PCA (Professional Chess Association), while FIDE continued to manage a World Championship cycle that was stripped of legitimacy in the eyes of most chess fans. The uncomfortable situation of a split title persisted for 13 years, during which time Kasparov lost a title defense to Vladimir Kramnik. In order to end the chaos of the split title, and for FIDE to retain legitimacy, it was necessary to pit Kramnik (the rightful heir of Kasparov's throne) against the FIDE World Champion. The title was reunified in 2006 when FIDE Champion Veselin Topalov lost to Kramnik in the 2006 FIDE World Championship Match in Elista.