Kramnik retains his chess title

He won the last point against Peter Leko (who?) in dramatic fashion to retain his world championship title. Here is a full account of the contest.

The match we all want to see, of course, is Kasparov against Vishwanathan Anand.

But hey, the FIDE world champion is Rustam Kasimdzhanov (who?), he will soon play a match against Kasparov for yet another world chess championship. In case you didn’t know, there are competing titles, as has often been the case in boxing.

Kramnik, of course, beat Kasparov fair and square in 2000 but Kasparov is still the world’s most highly rated player and considered the greatest player of all time. Unless of course you count these guys.

Sports leagues are often accused of exercising too much monopoly power. But they are also needed to define proper champions, generate publicity, and ensure that contests have some finality and achieve universal acceptance. The world of chess proves that these are not easy tasks.