user8291: Are FIDE World Champions after the 1993 Kasparov-Short match, i.e. Khalifman, Ponomariov, Kasymdžanov, Topalov, (not counting Karpov and Anand, for obvious reasons) to be considered actual World Champions, or not? I think that the real World Champions after Kasparov are Kramnik (who beat Kasparov), then Anand, and of course Carlsen. What's the chess world's view on this?  

user4418: The answer is that both the FIDE world champions and the PCA world champions were world champions.
The situation was actually less chaotic than the normal situation in boxing. In boxing there are four bodies awarding world champion titles. They are -

WBA - World Boxing Association
WBC - World Boxing Council
IBF - International Boxing Federation
WBO - World Boxing Organization

In the heavyweight division the British fighter, Anthony Joshua, holds three of the four titles (WBA, IBF, WBO) but in the light heavyweight division four different boxers hold the four titles -

WBA - Dmitry Bivol
WBC - Oleksandr Gvozdyk
IBF - Artur Beterbiev
WBO - Sergey Kovalev

If boxers are clever enough to get their heads round having up to four different world champions in one weight division then I'm sure chess players are clever enough to manage just two for the short period of time of the existence of the PCA.

8291: <p>Are FIDE World Champions after the 1993 Kasparov-Short match, i.e. Khalifman, Ponomariov, Kasymdžanov, Topalov, (not counting Karpov and Anand, for obvious reasons) to be considered actual World Champions, or not? I think that the real World Champions after Kasparov are Kramnik (who beat Kasparov), then Anand, and of course Carlsen. What's the chess world's view on this?  </p>
 4418: <p>The answer is that both the FIDE world champions and the PCA world champions were world champions.</p>

<p>The situation was actually less chaotic than the normal situation in boxing. In boxing there are four bodies awarding world champion titles. They are -</p>

<ul>
<li>WBA - World Boxing Association</li>
<li>WBC - World Boxing Council</li>
<li>IBF - International Boxing Federation</li>
<li>WBO - World Boxing Organization</li>
</ul>

<p>In the heavyweight division the British fighter, Anthony Joshua, holds three of the four titles (WBA, IBF, WBO) but in the light heavyweight division four different boxers hold the four titles -</p>

<ul>
<li>WBA - Dmitry Bivol</li>
<li>WBC - Oleksandr Gvozdyk</li>
<li>IBF - Artur Beterbiev</li>
<li>WBO - Sergey Kovalev</li>
</ul>

<p>If boxers are clever enough to get their heads round having up to four different world champions in one weight division then I'm sure chess players are clever enough to manage just two for the short period of time of the existence of the PCA.</p>
