Vladimir Borisovich Kramnik (Влади́мир Бори́сович Кра́мник) (born June 25, 1975) is a Russian chess grandmaster and the World Chess Champion from 2000 to 2007.
In October 2000, he beat 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 Péter Lékó 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 FIDE 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 September 2007, Kramnik lost his title to Viswanathan Anand at the FIDE World Chess Championship 2007.
