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Vladimir Kramnik

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Vladimir Kramnik at the 2005 Corus chess tournament.
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Vladimir Kramnik at the 2005 Corus chess tournament.

Vladimir Kramnik (Владимир Крамник), born June 25, 1975, is a Russian chess player and the current Classical World Chess Champion. In the July 2006 FIDE ELO rating list Kramnik is rated 2743, ranking fourth in the world by rating.

In October 2000, he beat Garry Kasparov in a 16 game match played in London, becoming the Classical World Chess Champion. In the fall of 2004, Kramnik successfully defended his title against challenger Péter Lékó in a 14 game match played in Brissago, Switzerland.

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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.

World Champion

In 2000, he played a sixteen game match against Garry Kasparov in London, for the Classical Chess World Championship, in the tradition going back to Wilhelm Steinitz.

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. This event marked the first time Kasparov had been beaten in a World Championship match.

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 the Tournament of Linares for the first time, finishing undefeated with a +2 score, ahead of Garry Kasparov, the world's highest-rated player at that time.

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. [link]

Reunification Match

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 sponsorship of the Brain Games Network (BGN). When Kramnik defeated Kasparov and inherited the classical championship, he also inherited its surrounding controversy.

After the San Luis tournament (the FIDE version of the world championship), Kramnik offered the new FIDE World Champion - Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria - a match to reunify the Championship titles. Topalov rejected the $1.4 million prize fund as insufficient.

However, in April 2006, FIDE announced that Kramnik will play current FIDE Champion Veselin Topalov in a world championship match to unify the "Classical" championship line with the Fide championship[link]. Both parties have agreed to the match, with a prize fund of $1 million, to be played in September 2006.

In past encounters, Kramnik has defeated Topalov 19 times, lost 9 games, with 34 draws. However this score includes rapid and blindfold matches. In classical time control games since the beginning of 2004, the score is 2 wins each, with 3 draws.

Health

Kramnik has been diagnosed with a rare form of arthritis, causing him great physical discomfort while playing. In January 2006, Kramnik announced that he would skip the Corus chess tournament in Wijk aan Zee to seek out treatment for his arthritis. [link]. He returned from treatment in June, 2006, playing in the 37th Chess Olympiad. He scored a +4 result, earning the highest performance rating (2847) of the 1307 participating players.

Notable Tournament Victories

World Championship Matches

External links

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