Once again he proved his mettle by defeating Vassily Ivanchuk who then held the third position in the world. In 1995 the Classical World Chess Championship was held. In this Kramnik played as a second to Kasparov against Vishwanathan Anand and the match was won by Kasparov. Within a stretch of just six months this chess genius managed to play more games than the then number one, Kasparov. In 1996 Kasparov lost his position to Kramnik and the new number one held fast to this position for fourteen years. Vladimir Kramnik was the youngest player to hold the prestigious place. From 1995 to 2009 he won nine matches at Dortmund, once again breaking Kasparov’s record.

In 2000 the two grandmasters played against each other in the Classical World Chess Championship. Yet again Vladimir added another feather to his cap by defeating Kasparov in all the games, which was a record in itself. Several victories in the later years cemented his position as the world champion until his defeat in 2010 in his match opposite Vishwanathan Anand.

Born in the year 1990, at the young age of 20, he is already a grandmaster. Sergey started playing at around the age of 5 and rigorous coaching and training sessions started soon after his talents were discovered. Today, after about 15 years of all the hard work, he carries a proud FIDE rating of 2747 (taken on July 2010). This has been his peak rating so far.

He has also been a well known chess prodigy, whose some of the earliest achievements include wining the U12 World Chess Championship, becoming an IM, besides many more. Not only did these bring him to the limelight, but also took his career to greater heights, so that he could win even bigger matches against some of the most well known chess players in the world. His some of the most brilliant performances till date have been in the Chess World Cup (year 2007), the World Chess Championship (year 2009), ACP Rapid World Cup, (conducted in May 2010), the Corus Chess Tournament, and many more.

Karjakin Sergey has also played against computer in a major match, which made him the only human ever to have won in that specified category (in spite of being the youngest player, while also holding the lowest rank of them all at that point).

His current Fide rating is 2739. This took him to the number 12 position on the world FIDE ratings. If this sounds astonishingly brilliant, then it may be even more surprising to know that his highest rating so far has been 2787, as on October 2007. He has also made it to the rating list of Elo at the second number slot for quite a few times in his career. Now one of the milestones that remain for him to conquer is to make it to the number one position on this chart and make his country prouder than ever before.

Lovingly called as Vasyl, a very interesting fact about him is that his career graph has been quite erratic overall. Though of course, always in one of the topmost positions, his rankings have fluctuated wildly at times- which can be understood from the very fact that since the year 2007 to the mid-2009, his ranks actually varied from twelfth to the second position, finally touching the thirtieth number! Hopefully this will change for this 41 year old genius, and take Ivanchuk Vassily to make some more remarkable achievements to go down the books of history.

Alexander started playing at a very young age and by the time he was 10, he had already made his country proud by being one of the best performers in the – under 10 world chess championship. His talent could not go unnoticed after this big break and as it was obvious, with constant practice and training he began to rise higher than ever, winning major tournaments against some of the best players around.

He is also considered as one of the most brilliant blitz players ever. This can be understood from the very fact that he has even once held the highest rating ever on the famous Internet Chess Club.

Now not only does he stand proud with the title of a grandmaster, but is also one of the finest players around with a jaw dropping FIDE rating of 2760 (taken on may 2010)!This has also been his highest rating so far, proving very well the fact that he seems to be progressing fast in his career. His current FIDE world ranking is 7, which hopefully would get even better in a matter of some time as Grischuk Alexander wins many more of the numerous tournaments awaiting him to astound the world with his skills.

Born in the year 1983, on 10th of May, he started playing chess from his very childhood. Not only were his extraordinary talents getting evident right from his first moves on the chess board, but with only a bit of training and guidance, the lad was already ready to play the major tournaments. He became a valuable member of the National Ukrainian Youth Team, and since then, there has been no looking back for him.

Born in the Soviet Union, he currently plays for Ukraine. At just the age of twenty seven, not only does he have a lot of achievements to be proud of, but he also holds the proud title of a grandmaster. His current FIDE rating (as on July 2010) – which also happens to be his highest Fide rating so far is 2755. This FIDE rating saw him making to the 8th rank on the FIDE list, and it is hoped that as his career progresses further, things would only get brighter for Eljanov Pavel – the extraordinarily talented player.

He was born on 13th of June in the year 1968, his father being a Bulgarian and mother being a Croatian, in Yugoslavia. Sokolov had been a chess enthusiast since the very time he was introduced to the game, and his sharp intuition and quick mind made people around take notice of his extraordinary talents. Soon after he began playing major tournaments and the bigger achievements began to come in when he won the FIDE Master, way back in the year 1985. This was followed by the International Master, the very next year. This famous win however soon got outshined with his next another major accomplishment when he won the Vidmar Memorial the year thereafter. It is notable that Sokolov Ivan won this title again in the year 1993.

His most famous win however was probably the Wijk aan Zee, held in the year 1999, where he managed to win against Garry Kasparov, in fine swift moves. The last FIDE rating taken saw him being rated at number 2654. This took him to the number 83 on FIDE list. His peak rating till date has been a staggering 2706 on January 2004.

Since then, there has been no looking back for him. he continued making his country proud by winning world famous championships that include National champion of Poland (that he won twice, once in 2004, and again in 2009), European Championship which he won in the year 2005,the European Team Vice Championship (won by him for 5 times, besides many others.

He has also qualified for the FIDE championship several times, and has played chess Olympiads for five times as well. He is known to have performed brilliantly each time in both, and some of his moves are still talked about among chess enthusiasts. He is currently 32 years old and is playing for Poland. He is expected to continue playing for Poland in the near future at least.

Today Macieja Bartlomiej stands proud with two great titles- the famous title of ‘International Master’, that he was awarded in the year 1996, and the well known ‘Grandmaster’ title, that was awarded to this legend in the year 1999. His current FIDE rating is 2639 (taken as on January 2010). His peak career rating however, however has been 2653, which he touched on January 2004.

Socko became Polish champion in 2008. He played for Poland at four Chess Olympiads in 2000, 2002, 2004 and 2006 and at four European Team Chess Championships in 1999, 2001, 2003 and 2005. Socko is married to Grandmaster Monika Socko.

Smirin’s career started in the Soviet Union. He earned a diploma from the Belorussian State Institute of Physical Culture, Minsk, which certified him as a chess teacher cum trainer.

He emigrated to Israel in 1992 and has been one of the leading chess players of Israel at Chess Olympiads and international tournaments. He is a member of the Israel national team and of the Ashdod chess club.

Ilya Smirin won equal first places in 1987 at Sverdlovsk, in New York in 1994, and in the Israeli Championship in 2002.

Smirin has won the 1st league of the USSR Championship in 1987-1989, the Israeli Championship in 1992, 1994 and 1999. He won the prestigious NY Open in 2000 and Dos Hermanas in 2001. He won the Acropolis International at Athens in 2007 by scoring 7/9. He tied for the first position with Evgeny Postny in Maalot-Tarshiha in 2008.

Roiz learned how to play chess when he was seven. When he was nine, he stood second in the under 10 category in the national championship. He moved to Israel in 1995, became International Master in 1999 when he was 16 and Grandmaster in 2003.

He has won several chess tournaments. He has won several blitz and rapid tournaments like Biel in 2006. He shared the fifth place at the Gibraltar Masters in 2007 behind Grandmasters like Alexander Areshchenko and Vladimir Akopian. He tied for the 1st-6th position in the same year in the 16th Monarch Assurance Isle of Man International tournament.

Roiz was a member of the Israel national team in 2003 in Plovdiv which won the team silver medal; Calvia 2004 in the 36th Chess Olympiad and Beer Sheva World team chess championship in 2005.

He qualified for the World cup in Khanty-Mansiysk in 2005 but lost to Alexander Motylev