Over 15 years ago, the top 5 players on the January 1998 FIDE rating list were:

1. Garry Kasparov
2. Vladimir Kramnik
3. Viswanathan Anand
4. Vassily Ivanchuk
5. Veselin Topalov

Now, the Top 5 players on the May 2013 FIDE list:

1. Magnus Carlsen
2. Levon Aronian
3. Vladimir Kramnik
4. Veselin Topalov
5. Viswanathan Anand

And since 1995, either Kramnik, Anand or Topalov has been either lineal World Champion or the challenger to the lineal World Title in every match that's been played.

I'd have to say that's a pretty incredible period of dominance for 3 guys, and it's still ongoing. The first time we have a World Championship match without one of the three of them, or the first time none of them are in the World Top 5 will be the passing of a generation in chess history. We'll probably even go on to call this the Kramnik/Anand/Topalov era.

it is pretty incredible how long theyve been near the top. especially in this era of increased computing power, it shows they started off with strong classical roots and then turned more and more to computer analysis as time went on to aide their games. changing with the times is not easy

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...ld_number_ones

but as a counterargument, they were only #1 about 40 total months of time collectively. magnus is about 30 months as of now, kasparov was #1 til 2006, its hard to call it their era when it was such a short period of time at the very top

also look at ivanchuk in the 1995 top 5. hes been a top 10 level player forever as well. consistency is hard, but what a talent