Vladimir Kramnik

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Vladimir Kramnik (Владимир Крамник), born June 25, 1975, is a Russian chess player and the current Classical Chess Champion (although, due to a political rift in the world of chess, FIDE some consider World Chess Champion Veselin Topalov the World Champion). In the April 2006 FIDE ELO rating list Kramnik is rated 2729, ranking ninth in the world by rating.

In October 2000, he beat Garry Kasparov in a 16 game match played in London. In the eyes of the participants and many observers, this was a match for the world championship, although the International Chess Federation (FIDE), which has administered the title from 1948-present, did not recognise the match as such.

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Biography

Kramnik was born in the town of Tuapse, on the shores of the Black Sea. As a child, he studied in the chess school established by Mikhail Botvinnik. His first notable result in a major tournament was his gold medal win as first reserve for the Russian team in the 1992 Chess Olympiad in Manila. His selection for the team caused some controversy in Russia at the time, as he was only sixteen years old and had not yet been awarded the grandmaster title, but his selection was supported by Garry Kasparov. He went on to win eight games and one draw with no losses.

The following year, Kramnik played in the very strong tournament in Linares. He finished fifth, beating the then world number three, Vassily Ivanchuk along the way. He followed this up with a string of good results, but had to wait until 1995 for his first major tournament win at normal time controls, when he won the strong Dortmund tournament, finishing it unbeaten. Kramnik continued to produce good results, including winning at Dortmund (outright or tied) for three successive years between 1996 and 1998.

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World Champion

In 2000, he played a sixteen game match against Garry Kasparov in London, a match that was billed as a world championship match, and widely accepted as being one in the tradition going back to Wilhelm Steinitz.

There was some controversy over Kasparov's choice of Kramnik as opponent, as Kramnik had not won any qualifying cycle. In fact in 1998, Kramnik had lost a qualifying match to Alexei Shirov. But negotiations for a Kasparov-Shirov match fell through, and Kasparov ended up playing a match with Kramnik instead.

Kramnik began the match as underdog, but his adoption of the Berlin Defence to Kasparov's Ruy Lopez opening was very effective, and although pressed hard by Kasparov in those games where the latter played white, repeatedly managed to avoid defeat. Kramnik won the match 8.5 - 6.5 without losing a game.

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Background to controversy

While Garry Kasparov held the title, most chess players and observers agreed that he was the legitimate World Champion. However, despite Kramnik's clear victory over Kasparov in a world title match, and although Kasparov himself regards Kramnik to be the 14th world champion, Kramnik has never been able to garner the same unanimous acknowledgment that Kasparov enjoyed. The reasons for this controversy are somewhat complex.

When Garry Kasparov broke with FIDE, the federation governing professional chess, to play the 1993 World Championship with Nigel Short, he created a rift in the chess world. In response, FIDE sanctioned a match between Anatoly Karpov and Jan Timman for the FIDE World Championship, which Karpov won. Subsequently, the chess world has seen two "champions": the classical lineage dating back to Steinitz and the FIDE endorsed champion (currently Veselin Topalov). Kasparov twice defended his classical championship, but the governing body he sought to put in place to administer the title folded due to financial instability.

Kasparov's next title defence match, against Kramnik, took place in London in 2000 under the auspices of the Brain Games Network (BGN). When Kramnik defeated Kasparov and inherited the classical championship, he also inherited its surrounding controversy. BGN ended their chess involvement soon after the 2000 match, leaving Kramnik in possession of what was effectively a world title without a governing body. Attempts at reunification between the two titles under the Prague Agreement were unsuccessful; despite genuine concerns over failings and broken promises on both sides, the media often singled out Kramnik as the stumbling block after he was portrayed - rightly or wrongly - as derailing numerous attempts at challenge/reunification matches in an attempt to keep hold of his title.

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After London

In October 2002, Kramnik competed in Brains in Bahrain, an eight game match against the chess computer Deep Fritz in Bahrain. Kramnik started well, taking a 3 - 1 lead after four games. However, in game five, Kramnik made what has been described as the worst blunder of his career, losing a knight in a position which was probably drawn. He quickly resigned. He also resigned game six, although subsequent analysis showed that with perfect play, he might have been able to draw from the final position. The last two games were drawn, and the match ended tied at 4 - 4.

In February 2004 Kramnik won undivided first place in the Tournament of Linares for the first time, finishing undefeated ahead of Garry Kasparov, the world's highest-rated player, with whom he had shared the title in 2000.

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Title Defence

From September 25, 2004 until October 18, 2004 he successfully defended his title as Classical World Chess Champion against challenger Péter Lékó at Brissago, Switzerland. The 14-game match was poised in favour of Lékó right up until Kramnik won the final game, thus forcing a 7 - 7 draw and ensuring that Kramnik remained world champion. The prize fund was 1 million francs, which was about USD $770,000 at the time. Because of the drawn result, the prize was split between the two players. [1]

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Further Controversy

Developments in the chess world meant that even while Kramnik was defeating Lékó to defend his title, the very value of that title appeared to be losing stock. Kasparov's claims to the World Championship had gained further credence when FIDE, in 1998, abandoned its own traditional champion-and-challenger match format for the World Championship and replaced it with an unpopular short knockout tournament featuring 128 players, held every two to three years. The resulting line of FIDE "World Champions" were rarely, if ever, taken very seriously in the chess world.

Following world #1 Kasparov's retirement in early 2005, FIDE abandoned the knockout World Championship format (renaming the event the FIDE Chess World Cup), and instead scheduled an eight-player round robin World Championship tournament to be held in San Luis, Argentina. The stated intention was to remove uncertainty over the world champion title by pitting all of those seen to have a valid claim to the title against each other, as well as some of the strongest players in the world. Both Kramnik and the recently-retired Kasparov were invited to take part in the event; both refused. As a result, the situation remains as confusing as ever, but FIDE officially regards Kramnik as having abdicated any claim to the World Championship title.

After the San Luis tournament, Kramnik offered the new FIDE World Champion - Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria - a match to reunify the Championship titles. These negotiations broke down after the two camps were unable to overcome substantial differences of opinion. Topalov's management refused the offer due to Kramnik's refusal to hold the match under the auspices of FIDE and his insistence on being billed as the reigning World Champion for the match. The Topalov camp demanded that Kramnik accept FIDE control of the match (which would entail a 20% fee for the organising body as well as a tacit acknowledgement that Kramnik's World Champion title was no longer valid), and that Kramnik be seen as a "challenger" to Topalov's title rather than a rival champion in a unification bout [2]. Both camps regarded their objections as entirely valid, and the differences between the two proved insurmountable; no unification match has taken place.

It has been speculated that on past form, Topalov might have more reason to avoid such a game than Kramnik; in their previous encounters, Kramnik has beaten Topalov 19 times, 33 games being drawn and Topalov winning 9. Nonetheless, prior to San Luis, opinion in the chess world appeared largely ambivalent towards the claims of FIDE's World Champions, largely due to the weakness of the knockout format; this situation appears to have changed somewhat with Topalov being crowned in a strong representative tournament in which Kramnik had every opportunity to compete.

Further lack of enthusiasm in the chess community over Kramnik's claims to World Champion status stemmed from his poor performances in 2005 following his absence from San Luis. For example, in May 2005 Kramnik finished last place in the Mtel Masters chess tournament with a minus 2 score, marking the first occasion that a world chess champion finished last in a tournament. [3] In addition, his style of play is considered extremely positional and defensive, which is difficult for many chess fans to understand. As a result, his style is often considered boring (although this opinion is by no means universally shared). Kramnik is also accused of a propensity for short draws.

In January 2006, Kramnik announced that he would not play in the Corus chess tournament in Wijk aan Zee due to arthritis-related health problems. [4]

In April 2006, FIDE announced that Kramnik would play current FIDE Champion Veselin Topalov in a world championship match to unify the "Classical" champion line with the Fide championship[5]

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Notable Tournament Victories

  • 1990 Russian Championship, Kuibyshev (classical) I
  • 1991 World Championship (U18), Guarapuav (classical) I
  • 1992 Chalkidiki (classical) 7,5/11 I
  • 1993 Belgrade (classical) 6/9 II
  • 1993 Interzonal Tournament, Biel (classical) 8,5/13 II
  • 1994 Overall result PCA Intel Grand Prix'94 I
  • 1995 Dortmund (classical) 7/9 I
  • 1995 Horgen (classical) 7/10 I-II
  • 1995 Belgrade (classical) 8/11 I-II
  • 1996 Monaco 16/22 I
  • 1996 Dos Hermanas (classical) 6/9 I-II
  • 1996 Dortmund (classical) 7/9 I-II
  • 1997 Dos Hermanas (classical) 6/9 I-II
  • 1997 Dortmund (classical) 6,5/9 I
  • 1997 Tilburg (classical) 8/11 I-III
  • 1998 Wijk aan Zee (classical) 8,5/13 I-II
  • 1998 Dortmund (classical) 6/9 I-III
  • 1998 Monaco (blindfold and rapidplay) 15/22 I
  • 1999 Monaco (blindfold and rapidplay) 14,5/22 I
  • 2000 Linares (classical) 6/10 I-II
  • 2000 Dortmund (classical) 6/9 I-II
  • 2000 Classical World Chess Championship
  • 2000 Match Kramnik v. Kasparov 8,5:6,5
  • 2001 Match Kramnik v. Leko (rapidplay) 7,0:5,0
  • 2001 Monaco (blindfold and rapidplay) 15/22 I-II
  • 2001 Match Kramnik v. Anand (rapidplay) 5;0:5,0
  • 2001 Dortmund (classical 6th win!) 6,5/10 I-II
  • 2002 Match Kramnik v. Anand (Leon) 3,5:2.5
  • 2002 Man vs Machine (Bahrain) 4,0:4,0
  • 2003 Linares (classical) 7,0/12 I-II
  • 2003 Dortmund (classical) 5,5/10 II-III
  • 2003 Cap'Agde (France)
  • 2003 Rapid World Chess Championships 8,5/13 II
  • 2004 Handicap Simul (classical)
  • 2004 Kramnik vs. National Team of Germany 2,5:1,5
  • 2004 Linares (classical) 7,0/12 I
  • 2004 Monaco (Overall result) 14,5/22 I-II
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World Championship Matches

  • PCA Quarterfinals, June 1994, New York, Kramnik-Gata Kamsky (1.5-4.5).
  • FIDE Quarterfinals, January 1994 Wijk aan Zee, Kramnik-Leonid Yudasin (4.5-2.5).
  • FIDE Semifinals, August 1994 Sanghi Nagar, Kramnik-Boris Gelfand (3.5-4.5).
  • WCC Candidates, 1998, Carzola, Kramnik-Alexei Shirov (3.5-5.5).
  • FIDE Knockout, July 1999, Las Vegas, Kramnik-Tikiakov (1.5-0.5); Kramnik-Victor Korchnoi (1.5-0.5); Kramnik-Veselin Topalov (3-1, including rapid playoff); Kramnik-Michael Adams (Quarterfinal) (2-4, including rapid playoff).
  • Classical Chess Championship, July 2000, London, Kramnik-Garry Kasparov (8.5-6.5)
  • Classical Chess Championship, Sept. 2004, Brissago, Kramnik-Péter Lékó (7-7)
  • World Championship Match, Sept 21 - Oct 13 2006, Elista, Topalov-Kramnik
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External links

Template:Start box Template:Incumbent succession box Template:Endbg:Владимир Крамник ca:Vladimir Kramnik de:Wladimir Borissowitsch Kramnik el:Βλαντιμίρ Κράμνικ es:Vladimir Kramnik fr:Vladimir Kramnik it:Vladimir Kramnik he:ולדימיר קרמניק nl:Vladimir Kramnik no:Vladimir Kramnik pl:Władimir Kramnik pt:Vladimir Kramnik ru:Крамник, Владимир Борисович sl:Vladimir Kramnik sv:Vladimir Kramnik tr:Vladimir Kramnik

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