the importance of khalifman and of anand ponomariov kazimzhinov and topalov in being world champions during a time of crisis for fide cannot be overstated they represent the rule of law the functioning of the world title cycle at a time when it was under direct attack by persons who viewed the title as private property rather than as a sports title bestowed upon a player by a public cycle as it had been from onward to say that fischer kasparov or alekhine were greater players and therefore of more importance overlooks this important aspect of khalifman's title reign one could say that fischer kasparov and alkehine were stronger than euwe and smyslov too but that doesn't get us anywhere we don't rank us presidents by reputation we list them all equally yes khalifman himself in in interviews said that although he was not the strongest player in the world being th by rating he was clearly the world champion having won the title in the open public cycle run by fide that stand that position is what makes his title reign important btw before anyone denigrates the fide title champions it should be noted that at least two could be considered super gms anand and topalov and that one anand regained the title via the classical method chesspride