Vladimir Kramnik

Vladimir Kramnik, born in Tuapse in 1975,
is a Russian chess grandmaster and former World Champion.
As student of the Botvinnik–Kasparov Chess School,
he was unexpectedly selected for the Russian team at the 1992 Chess Olympiad,
where he achieved the best individual result of the tournament with 8½ points from nine games.
In 2000, Kramnik defeated Garry Kasparov without losing a single game to become Classical World Champion.
He defended his title against Péter Lékó in 2004
and reunified the World Championship by defeating FIDE World Champion Veselin Topalov in 2006,
ending the title split that had existed since 1993.
Kramnik lost the title to Viswanathan Anand at the 2007 World Championship tournament in Mexico City
and was also defeated by Anand in their 2008 rematch.
His later achievements include winning the 2013 Chess World Cup and reaching a peak rating of 2817.
Kramnik retired from professional tournament chess in 2019.