Vladimir Kramnik

This article is an extract from the chess website bestofchess.com.... you can read the full article by clicking on the link below. Vladimir Borisovich Kramnik was born on June 25, 1975 in a town of Tuapse, Russia. His father was a sculptor and his mother was a teacher. He went to chess school Botvinnik Kasparov for his studies. He read his first book Anatoly Karparov as a result of which he started playing chess at the age of five. Some say he has been god gifted and some believe in his creative skills for his strategies. His vision is so alike from the rest, which makes him the true owner of titles he has been receiving ever since.

His first noteworthy victory was in 1992 Chess Olympiad in Manila, where he won a gold medal and confirmed his seat for Russian team. In the year 1995 he became world’s number one rated player. Garry Kasparov and Vladimir Kramnik shared the same rating but the latter played more number of games as compared to Kasparov which helped him to reach the position of number one. This record stood for 14 years until Magnus Carlsen in January 2010 broke it!

Kramnik first time received an award: Chess Oscar for his outstanding performance in 2000 World Chess Championship. On Thursday November 2, 2000 he became first 14th World Chess Champion. He was unbeaten in 86 classical games over 18 months up to July 2000.  In 2002 he played eight games against the chess computerdeep fritz in Bahrain. The score was 3-1 for four games. He resigned the fifth and sixth games rest two were ties. In 2004 February he won Tournament of Linares for the first time. In 2004 itself he defeated Hungarian grand master Péter Lékó. Year 2005 can be stated as the crux of his life. Vladimir Kramnik was diagnosed rheumatic arthritis. He was on treatment during which he took a break from the game for six months. He made a comeback in 2006 Chess Olympiad in Tyrin where he scored best individual score.

In the very same year World Chess Title Unification Championship was announced. Vladimir Kramnik was playing against Veselin Topalov. This championship was a controversial one! It all started with the suspicion of frequently usage of toilet by Kramnik. Topalov’s coach thought he has been receiving some sort of assistance from the outside. Kramnik was leading in the first four games by 3-1. Due to this controversy he refused to play the fifth game as a result of which Topalov was awarded points. After twelve regular games match was tied. On 13th October 2006 Kramnik won the rapid tie-break and was once again awarded by Chess Oscar.

 After a significant victory on 30th December 2006 he married in Paris to Marie-Laure Germon, who works as a journalist in Le-Figaro. They got acquainted during an interview. She worked in “debate and opinion” editorial department. Marie was having knowledge about chess and when the newspaper had to publish the article about Kramnik they sent her. That was how they met. From, Marie he bore two children; daughter Daria and son Vadim Vladimirovich.

In September 2007 the World Chess Championship was won by Vishwanathan Anand, Kramnik securing the second position. In 2008 he again played with Anand in Bonn and lost the match. In 2010 he won against Magnus Carlsen but later on he lost the match with Anand which knocked him out of the first place. He was sharing the second position with Alaxie Sherov.

Later on in May 2010 it was exposed that Kramnik aided Vishwanathan Anand in preparation for World Chess Championship 2010 against Veselin Topalov. Anand won the title retaining his position. Kramnik’s attempt to defend his 2009 title at the Tal Memorial in Moscow ended with a 7th place, while he finished 5th in the London Chess Classic in England. Later on in 2012 he was not particularly impressive during the first half, but scored the 6th place at both the Tal Memorial in Moscow and the Dortmund Classical in Germany.
Kranmik has always been realistic and persistent in his approach. He has incredibly molded Opening Theory in Chess. To this Vishwanathan Anand has said “I don’t know exactly how many lines he’s established, but you get the impression that for the last 10 years we’ve only been using his ideas. … His stamp on opening theory is much more significant than mine.”

Once Kramnik admitted in a very popular Russian weekly magazine that besides all the fame and victories he has been acknowledged to he still plays because of the interest and the game. He enjoys his success journey more than the success itself. According to him the difference between winning and losing is very short lived. He believes in his own karma no matter he loses the game or wins it. The basic idea behind every game is to give your best and never get disheartened with results of it.

Kramnik accepts that his style of playing is different from the rest and so he quotes “I’m drawn more towards positional, strategic play rather than tactics. It’s been that way for me since childhood.”  He further tells that his strength is his positional play and gradually outplaying his opponent. He admits the style he owns lies somewhere between Garry Kasparov’s and Anatoly Karparov’s. It is the mix of both.

As he finished school he was already a member of national team he didn’t see a point in getting enrolled into a university. To combine chess with studies was next to impossible for him. Kramnik reveals that it would have been possible to do it just for show, but he would not have been able to give time to his studies in this case. Graduating from university just to have a diploma doesn’t interest him, and the kind of education he might have got is what he has essentially attained.

Kramnik has an ability to play chess without looking at the board. According to him the quality of play now is by no means worse than before. He states that “I think its pure physiology, and with age some things are lost irrevocably.”