Vladimir Kramnik

With a playing style reminiscent of Anatoly Karpov, Kramnik takes a pragmatic approach to chess. As he is rather a 'head down and just play' type, his opponents found it hard to predict what his next move might be. So adept is he at misleading his opponents that he once went 80 consecutive games without a loss.

He even defeated the next player on our list during their World Championship match in 2000.

When playing, the endgame is Kramnik's forte but, since retirement, he's contributed greatly to chess opening theory.

His estimated Elo rating is 2982