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In 1993, due to a growing dissatisfaction of the world chess organization, World Champion Garry Kasparov and challenger Nigel Short announced that they would play their title match outside the jurisdiction of FIDE. Their decision and subsequent events created a schism in the World Championship which continued to this day. Kasparov continued to defend his title, and in the year 2000 he lost a title match to Vladimir Kramnik, who thereby became the 14th Classical World Chess Champion.
In 2005, the FIDE Championship featured eight of the strongest players (but not Kramnik) in a double round-robin tournament in San Luis, Argentina. Leaving competitors in his dust, Bulgarian grandmaster Veselin Topalov won 6 out of his first 7 games, and was soon crowned FIDE World Chess Champion.
In September 2006, these two giants will face off for a 12 game reunification match in Elista, Kalmykia. For the first time in over 13 years, the winner will be declared the one and only World Chess Champion.
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