The Chess Mind

Charles Sullivan of TrueChess.com has attempted to work out an answer by having his machines analyze almost 19,000 games by world champions, and you can find his method and results here. There are other ways to make assessments about the "greatest" player, but his data merit a look.

...is underway in Beijing, though with computer programs running it really doesn't matter where it happens. As of this report in ChessBase, at about the halfway point, Rybka and Hiarcs are tied for first with 4.5/5, Junior is half a point further back, and then there's a gap to the rest of the field. (Surprisingly, my old favorite program Shredder is languishing with a -1 score; hopefully this will serve as an impetus for its programmers to work hard and return their creation to the forefront of computer chess.)

No word yet on whether any of the programs are trying to contact Kramnik or Topalov during the games.