Vladimir Kramnik
Владимир Борисович Крамник ( Russian)
Vladimir Borisovich Kramnik (Russian: Владимир Борисович Крамник, scientific transliteration Vladimir Kramnik Borisovic, FIDE name Vladimir Kramnik, born June 25, 1975 in Tuapse on the Black Sea, Russia ) is a Russian grandmaster in chess. From 2000 to 2007 he was the 14th world chess champion after he defeated Garry Kasparov in 2000, defended the title in 2004 and 2006 in a unification fight against FIDE world champion Veselin Topalov captured the now sole world title. At the Chess World Cup 2007 in Mexico, he lost the title to Viswanathan Anand and could it not even a year later at the World Cup 2008 in Bonn recapture.
Life and career
Youth
Kramnik comes from an intellectual family of artists. His father is a painter and sculptor whose works are exhibited in the Krasnodar region, his mother is a music teacher. The parents brought Kramnik in the rules of chess when he was four years old. Even as a five year old, he was a member of the chess section in the local Pioneer Palace. Already the age of seven he was a player of the first category, the age of eight, he won the championship of adults Tuapse. His first major coaches were then the masters player Orestes Awerkin and Alexei Ossatschuk. Kramnik won the title the age of eleven candidate master and was already considered one of the leading players in the Krasnodar region. Around the same time he was admitted to the Mikhail Botvinnik Chess - school, where Mikhail Botvinnik also next to Gary Kasparov in charge of the classroom. His first international tournament was the U14 World Youth Championship in 1989 in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico, where he finished second behind the Bulgarian Veselin Topalov. In 1990, he landed in the championship of the RSFSR in Kuibyshev on the shared first - fifth Place. After random battles he finished second. In 1991 he won in Guarapuava, Brazil, the U18 World Youth Championship. While still a student he was accepted into the Soviet student team, with which he won the gold medal at the Student World Team Championship in the same year in Maringá, Brazil. Kramnik played on board 1 and 2 and won all his games. In Kherson In the same year he had a (split ) victory at the prestigious tournament of young Soviet masters.
Breakthrough
1992 was for Kramnik the breakthrough year: he won in Gausdal, when open from Dortmund and in Chalkidiki and was appointed on the recommendation of Kasparov in the Russian national team, with whom he still, at the 30th Chess Olympiad in Manila as Fide Master with 8 5 points from nine games ( 8 = 1 -0 ( eight wins, one draw, no defeat ) ) achieved an outstanding result and won the gold medal with the team and the individual gold medal for his performance on the fourth board. In Manila, he was appointed at the same time as the International Master and Grandmaster. He was also with Russia in the same year in Debrecen team European champion with an individual score of 6 out of 7 ( 5 = 2 -0 ). This year, the FIDE awarded him the grandmaster title for his outstanding achievements. Kramnik started in the 1992/93 season for the club SV Empor Berlin in the chess Bundesliga and also lived for several years in the German capital.
First attempts on the world title
1993 Kramnik get two race victories against world-class players: He defeated the French in Cannes Joël Lautier with 4,5:1,5 ( 4, = 1, -1) and in Alcobendas the Spaniard Miguel Illescas Cordoba with the same result ( 3, = 3 -0 ). Together with Viswanathan Anand and Veselin Topalov won Kramnik this year a world-class tournament in Madrid and he managed to qualify for the candidates fighting both the FIDE ( Interzonal in Biel ) and the newly founded PCA ( the qualifying tournament in Groningen).
1994 proved, however, for Kramnik as a year of setbacks. After a win against Leonid Judassin ( 4,5:2,5 ) in the second round of FIDE candidates fighting in Wijk aan Zee Kramnik retired in the quarterfinals against Boris Gelfand in Sanghi Nagar, India, with 3,5:4,5 from. Similarly, the quarter-finals in the PCA cycle was a terminus for Kramnik. He defeated Gata Kamsky in New York City with 1,5:4,5 ( 0, -3, = 3). However, he won the Linares tournament for the first time a match against Kasparov.
In 1995, Kramnik major tournaments in Horgen, Dortmund and Belgrade. In 1996, he won again in Dortmund and in Dos Hermanas ( shared with Veselin Topalov, before Garry Kasparov ), and he also won a major Quick Tournament in Moscow, where he was able to defeat Garry Kasparov in the final. In 1997, he won jointly with Garry Kasparov and Pyotr Svidler in Tilburg, together with Viswanathan Anand in Dos Hermanas and undivided in Dortmund. This year, he finished second, one behind Garry Kasparov, in Novgorod and Linares. 1998 played Kramnik in Cazorla, Spain, a match against Alexei Shirov in which the challenger of the 13th classical world champion Garry Kasparov should be determined. Kramnik lost clear with 3,5:5,5 ( 0, = 7, -2) and Shirov won the right to challenge. However did this championship fight against Shirov financial reasons never materialized. In the same year, Kramnik won the tournament in Wijk aan Zee tradition (Corus Chess Tournament ) and Dortmund and played a lightning - match against Garry Kasparov in Moscow 12:12. 1999 Kramnik won a simultaneous match against the Swiss national team to six boards with 4-2.
Victory over Kasparov in World Championship fight
2000 Kramnik won the first world-class tournaments in Linares (along with Garry Kasparov ) and Dortmund (together with Viswanathan Anand ), before it arrived in London in October 2000 to compete against the 13th World Champion Garry Kasparov classic. In the scheduled 16 games match Kramnik won without losing prematurely after 15 games with 8,5:6,5 ( 2 = 13 -0 ) and thus became the successor to Garry Kasparov on the world champion throne. Kasparov came under criticism because he ran against the loser of the match Kramnik - Shirov 1998, but he justified his choice of out Forderes with Kramnik's outstanding tournament results, its constant 2nd place in the world rankings and the matched record in tournament games (prior to October 2000 ) that Kasparov had to have against Kramnik: 3, -3, = 18, while Kasparov's result against Shirov was so unique ( 9 = 9 -0 ) that sponsors would be deterred. Kramnik's victory over Kasparov, as well as a safe manner, in which it was achieved, namely without a single defeat, stunned the chess world. Kramnik, who has been assisted in its preparation for Kasparov of the world's elite players Joël Lautier, Miguel Illescas Cordoba and Yevgeny Bareev, Kasparov surprised especially with the black pieces. Against the repeatedly used by Kramnik Berlin Defence in the Ruy Lopez failed the defending champion to reach an opening advantage with white. The Kramnik " excavated " in the 19th century and very popular variant was after this race again very popular and are a standard defense in the games of the world's elite players. Kramnik himself stated, these very sophisticated and based on deep position sense and understanding defense was not for chess programs to "understand". This advantage had proved against Kasparov, who use special support programs in the variant calculation in his preparation as decisive.
Gambling World Champion
2001 get Kramnik wins in Dortmund (together with Veselin Topalov ) and the rapid chess tournament in Zurich, where he defeated Kasparov in the final with 1.5:0.5. In the same year he came to Budapest the Hungarian world-class player Péter Lékó in a rapid chess match 7:5. At the tournament in Astana, he finished second behind Garry Kasparov.
In 2002, he defeated the Indian Viswanathan Anand in a match with computer support ( the players were allowed to use chess software support ) in León with 3,5:2,5. In addition, Kramnik played in Bahrain against the chess program Deep Fritz. The competition, the " Brains in Bahrain " was held under the slogan, ended after eight games 4:4 ( 2, -2, = 4) undecided.
2003 Kramnik won together with Péter Lékó in Linares ago Garry Kasparov and the assembled world elite. In Dortmund he finished second behind Viktor Bologan, as in the fast tournament in Cap d'Agde behind Viswanathan Anand. 2004 defeated Kramnik in Brissago in a simultaneous competition, the German national team with 2.5:1.5 ( three draw and a win over Robert Hübner ) and won the Wimbledon of chess, the traditional tournament in Linares. In Dortmund he finished second behind Anand.
Title defense
In the same year Kramnik defended his first title won against Kasparov. He entered Brissago ( 25 September-18 October 2004) against Péter Lékó at which extends through the victory in the discharged as candidates Dortmund Chess Tournament 2002 days (Final victory over Veselin Topalov with 2.5:1.5 ) qualified. The match ended after hochdramatischem course with 7:7 ( 2, -2, = 10 ), which according to Kramnik enough regulations to defend their title. Only a victory Kramnik in the last 14 match, put the tied it all up. This competition was originally intended as a step towards the unification of the two world titles: the FIDE had in the Prague agreement obliged to host a match between Garry Kasparov and the winner of the FIDE knockout world championship, the winner then one with the winner of Kramnik - Lékó Association competition would play for the world championship. The FIDE World Champion Ruslan disqualified, however, their Ponomariov and neither a qualifying competition Kasparov's still a union competition came about. With Kasparov's retirement from chess in March 2005, but was now a new situation.
Disease and return to chess
Kramnik's results in 2005 gave the critics in the chess world an opportunity to challenge the legitimacy of his championship in question. So he lost at the Weltklasseturnierern in Wijk aan Zee and Sofia respectively fatally against the Bulgarians Veselin Topalov, who could later the FIDE World Championship in San Luis ( Argentina) in a convincing manner to decide for himself, and he did not succeed this year winning a prize in a tournament. Most recently, he ended in December 2005 at the Russian Championship with a score of 50%. Kramnik offered immediately after Topalows victory in the FIDE World Cup this union a contest of competing title that was initially rejected by the Bulgarians on the grounds that Kramnik's fallen position in the world rankings disqualifies him for a world championship fight. In January 2006, Kramnik let it be known in a press release that he was suffering from " some time " to a rheumatic disease ( ankylosing spondylitis, and in a later interview he said that this was " immediately after the 2000 " occurred) that it further in participating in tournaments in the first half of 2006 prevents. After a six month break due to relaxation Kramnik played the end of May / beginning of June 2006 for the first time chess tournament. At the Chess Olympiad in Turin, he scored 6.5 out of nine matches without loss, the best result in the Russian team and the best rating performance of the Olympics and demonstrated his restored skill level.
In August 2006, he succeeded in a shared first place with Peter Svidler in the Dortmund Chess days.
Reunification of the competing title in 2006
From 23 September to 13 October 2006, there was in Elista, Kalmykia, finally the match against the FIDE World Champion Veselin Topalov about the World Chess Championship. This scheduled to twelve games of the chess world long awaited and joyously welcomed competition, meant the reunification of the competing title. After a 2-0 lead for Kramnik after the first two games and two drawn games following Topalows Manager Silvio Danailov sparked by a protest that Kramnik indirectly accused of manipulation by software support, a scandal out. Kramnik replied to that by non-commencement of the fifth game. As scandalous the delivery of video to the Topalov team was referred to by the Appellate Committee on the part of Kramnik delegation from which the Topalov - delegation wanted to have detected an excessive toilet stay Kramnik in his rest room during the third game. Only the intervention of FIDE Kirsan Ilyumzhinov and the President initiated by him withdrawal of the appeal committee, which was responsible for the evaluation of non-combat game, enabled a resumption of negotiations between the warring sides. Kramnik reserved the right to take legal action and played by formal recognition of noncombat defeat under protest the contest to an end. After the last regular game on October 12, it was 6:6, so that according to the agreed rules four rapid games were recognized as a tiebreak. After four highly dramatic roles with varying levels between Kramnik was able to prevail with 2.5:1.5 in rapid chess and raised with his World Cup win since 1993, the existing split in the chess world. There is since then only a world champion.
World Chess Challenge 2006
From 25 November to 5 December 2006, they played six games against Kramnik chess program Deep Fritz in the Art and Exhibition Hall of the Federal Republic of Germany in Bonn.
Kramnik was an entry fee of U.S. $ 500,000 and got another $ 500,000 in case of victory in sight. It was, as the competition in 2002 in Bahrain, agreed that Kramnik in advance received the program in order to become familiar with the style of play; Also Kramnik was able to take during the game glimpse of the opening book of Deep Fritz. The program ran on a system with two Intel Core 2 processors with two cores and calculated eight to ten million positions per second. The comparison ended 4:2 for Deep Fritz. After Garry Kasparov, who defeated 1997 Deep Blue, Kramnik is the second world chess champion, who lost against a chess computer in a competition on several games under tournament conditions.
In the second game Kramnik overlooked the fact that his opponent threatened with a mat in a train and lost the game. This error was from Susan Polgar as a " blunder of the century " ( mistake of the century ) comments.
Loss of world title rematch and
2007 did not make Kramnik to defend his title in the exceptionally again discharged as a round-robin tournament World Cup in Mexico. He had to take him to the world number one and sovereign gambling Viswanathan Anand cede, who suffered no defeat and thus 15th World Chess Champion in continuity since Wilhelm Steinitz was. In the following year, Kramnik in the World Chess Championship 2008 in Bonn not to reclaim his title against Anand.
Current career
The year 2009 brought Kramnik to December only tournament victories: he won both the Dortmund Chess Days and the Valley Memorial in Moscow, next to Zurich in a heavily occupied Quick anniversary tournament against Topalov and Anand. In the three tournaments Kramnik was the sole winner of the tournament respectively. Only arrived at his last tournament in December 2009 Kramnik not in the first place: the world-class tournament in London, he finished second behind the new world number one Magnus Carlsen.
In January 2010, Kramnik announced Alexei Shirov second place in the traditional tournament in Wijk aan Zee, again behind Norwegian Carlsen. The President's Cup in Baku, a strong rapid chess tournament, he won thanks to better fine- rating. In October 2010, he won the Masters Final in Bilbao with four points from six games, ahead of World Champion Anand and the world number one Carlsen. At the Candidates tournament in Kazan in 2011 Kramnik sat in the first round after tiebreaker against Teymur Rəcəbov through, but failed in the second round, also after tie-break, to Alexander Grishchuk. In July 2011, he managed to win the Dortmund Chess Days with 7 points from ten games for a total of 10 times. He also won in December 2011, the London Chess Classic with 6 points from eight games against Hikaru Nakamura and Magnus Carlsen.
2013 he was in due to the lower number of victories Second Candidates tournament in London after the same number of points Magnus Carlsen. The World Chess Cup 2013 won Kramnik in the final against Dmitry Andreikin.
Private life
Kramnik is married to a Frenchwoman. The couple has a daughter (* 2008) and a son (* 2013) and lives in Paris.
Style
Kramnik's style is characterized by influences of the pragmatic style of Anatoly Karpov ( in his autobiography he gives Karpov's collection of games as the first lasting impression on; Grand Master Jacob Aagaard provides in Kramnik's play a "roll out of Karpov's style " ) and in Botvinnik's chess school mainly by Garri Kasparov mediated in-depth and comprehensive theoretical opening and middlegame preparation. His games are usually created highly secure and his tournament results unusually low in defeat. Grandmaster Neil McDonald writes, Kramnik's style is characterized by " a quest for a subtle attack position, which places the opponent's pawn structure constantly under pressure. Nothing serious seems to happen, but unexpected are by the defense, which is often the formation of a pawn is possible, which proves to be crucial in the final. The number of wins, which saw extort from appearing balanced positions Kramnik, is exceptional (...). " After his championship win, he was accused, he remisiers too many games. With White he prefers closed openings, with Black against 1.e4 he responds predominantly first - e5. He is considered one of the leading experts of the Russian and the Berlin Defence and the Catalan Opening with white. More recently, Kramnik, however, has created his games much sharper and is not averse tactical complications.