What is Vladimir Kramnik?
{{Infobox chess player |playername = Vladimir Kramnik |image = Vladimir Kramnik 2005.jpg |caption = Kramnik at the 2005 Corus chess tournament |birthname = Vladimir Borisovich Kramnik |country = {{RUS}} |datebirth = {{birth date and age|df=yes|1975|6|25}} |placebirth = [[Tuapse]], [[USSR]] |title = [[Grandmaster (chess)|Grandmaster]] |rating = 2801<br /><small>(#2 on the Jan 2016 [[FIDE]] ratings list)</small> |worldchampion = 2000–2006 (Classical)<br />2006–2007 (Unified) |peakrating = 2810 (January 2013) }}'''Vladimir Kramnik''',<ref>Russian: Влади́мир Бори́сович Кра́мник</ref> born 25 June 1975, is a Russian [[chess]] [[Grandmaster (chess)|grandmaster]]. He was [[List of World Chess Champions|Classical World Chess Champion]] from 2000 to 2006, and undisputed World Chess Champion from 2006 to 2007. In October 2000, he defeated [[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 [[Peter Leko]] 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. As a result, Kramnik became the first undisputed World Champion, since [[Garry Kasparov]] split from FIDE in 1993. In 2007, Kramnik lost the title to [[Viswanathan Anand]], who won the World Chess Championship tournament (not a classical match between the two players) ahead of Kramnik. He played Anand at the World Chess Championship match 2008, but lost. ==Private life and health == Kramnik has been diagnosed with an uncommon form of [[arthritis]], called [[ankylosing spondylitis]]. It causes him great physical discomfort while playing. In January 2006, Kramnik announced that he would skip the Corus Chess Tournament in Wijk aan Zee to seek out treatment for his arthritis.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=2846 |title=ChessBase.com - Chess News - Kramnik drops out of Wijk Super-