Vladimir Kramnik is the world chess champion

The Professional Chess Association (PCA) is a chess organization founded by Garry Kasparov and Nigel Short in 1993. The association was created as a result of Kasparov (then world champion) and Short (the knockout winner) not accepting the financial terms of the world championship match set by FIDE (International Chess Federation). Nigel Short then won the FIDE qualifying tournaments, and in the Candidates matches he defeated former world champion Anatoly Karpov and Jan Timman. After being expelled from FIDE, Kasparov and Short played a match in London in 1993 which ended in a 12½:7½ victory for Kasparov. The emergence of the SPS and the organization of a competitive match for the title of world champion caused a split in the chess world. Since then, world championship games have been organized in two ways: by FIDE and by organizations founded by Kasparov. Vladimir Kramnik became the Braingames (PCA continuation) world champion in 2000 after defeating Kasparov. In 2006, a unified match for the title of world champion took place, following which Vladimir Kramnik became the official world chess champion.

1. Young Volodya Kramnik, source: http://bit.ly/3pBt9Ci

Vladimir Borisovich Kramnik (Russian: Vladimir Borisovich Kramnik) was born on June 25, 1975 in Tuapse, Krasnodar region, on the Black Sea coast. His father studied at the Academy of Arts and became a sculptor and painter. Mother graduated from the conservatory in Lviv, later worked as a music teacher. From an early age, Volodya was considered a child prodigy in his native city (1). When he was 3 years old, he watched the games played by his older brother and father. Seeing the interest of little Vladimir, dad put a simple problem on the chessboard, and the kid unexpectedly, almost immediately, correctly solved it. Soon after, Volodya started playing chess for his father. At the age of 10, he was already the best player in all of Tuapse. When Vladimir was 11 years old, the whole family moved to Moscow. There attended school of chess talents, created and run by a former he helped train Garry Kasparov. His parents also contributed to the development of Vladimir's talent, and his father even quit his job to accompany his son to tournaments.

At fifteen talented chess player he could play blindfold with twenty opponents at the same time! Under pressure from Kasparov, young Kramnik was included in the Russian national chess team and at the age of only 16, he represented Russia at the Chess Olympiad in Manila. He did not deceive his hopes and out of nine games played at the Olympics, he won eight and drew one. In 1995, he achieved his first victory at the World Championships in Dortmund without suffering a single defeat in the tournament. In the following years, Kramnik continued his string of excellent performances and won a total of 9 tournaments in Dortmund.

Braingames World Chess Championship Match

In 2000 in London Kramnik played a world championship match with Kasparov by Braingames (2). In a very tense match, which consisted of 16 games, Kramnik unexpectedly defeated his teacher Kasparov, who had been sitting on the chess throne continuously for the previous 16 years.

2. Vladimir Kramnyk - Garry Kasparov, match for the world championship of the Braingames organization, source: https://bit.ly/3cozwoR

Vladimir Kramnyk - Garry Kasparov

Braingames World Championship match in London, 10th round, October 24.10.2000, XNUMX, XNUMX

1.d4 Sf6 2.c4 e6 3.Sc3 Gb4 4.e3 O -O 5.Gd3 d5 6.Sf3 c5 7.OO c: d4 8.e: d4 d: c4 9.G: c4 b6 10.Gg5 Gb7 11.We1 Sbd7 12.Wc1 Wc8 13.Hb3 Ge7 14.G: f6 S: f6 15.G: e6 (diagram 3) q:e6? (I had to play 15… Rc7 16.Sg5 N:d4 17.S:f7 Bc5 18.Sd6+ Kh8 19.S:b7 H:f2+ and Black has compensation for the lost pawn) 16.H: e6 + Kh8 17.H: e7 G: f3 18.g: f3 Q: d4 19.Sb5 H: b2? (было лучше 19…Qd2 20.W:c8 W:c8 21.Sd6 Rb8 22.Sc4 Qd5 23.H:a7 Ra8 slightly white-dominated) 20.W: c8 W: c8 21.Nd6 Rb8 22.Nf7 + Kg8 23.Qe6 Rf8 24.Nd8 + Kh8 25.Qe7 1-0 (diagram 4).

3. Vladimir Kramnik - Garry Kasparov, position after 15.G: e6

4. Vladimir Kramnik - Garry Kasparov, finishing position after the 25th move He7

Vladimir Kramnik he did not lose a single game in this match, and he owes his victory, among other things, by using the "Berlin Wall" variant, which is created after the moves: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 (diagram 5) 4.OO S:e4 5.d4 Sd6 6.G:c6 d:c6 7.d:e5 Sf5 8.H:d8 K:d8 (diagram 6).

5. The Berlin Wall from the Spanish side

6. Version of the "Berlin Wall" by Vladimir Kramnik.

Berlin Wall in Spanish Party It owes its name to the 2000th century chess school in Berlin, which subjected this variant to careful analysis. He remained in the background for a long time, underestimated by the best chess players for decades, until XNUMX, when Kramnik used him in a match against Kasparov. In this variation, Black can no longer throw (although this is not so important in the absence of queens) and has doubled pieces. Black's plan is to close all paths to his camp and take advantage of a couple of messengers. This variation is sometimes chosen by Black when a draw is a favorable outcome of the tournament.

Kramnik used it four times in this match. Kasparov and his team could not find an antidote to the Berlin Wall, and the challenger easily got even. The name "Berlin Wall" is associated with the reliability of its debut, it is also the name of the steel or reinforced concrete elements used in securing deep pits ("Berlin Wall").

7. Vladimir Kramnik at the Corus Chess Tournament, Wijk aan Zee, 2005, source: http://bit.ly/36rzYPc

In October 2002 in Bahrain Kramnik draw in an eight-game game against the Deep Fritz 7 chess computer (peak speed: 3,5 million positions per second). The prize fund was one million dollars. Both the computer and the human won two games. Kramnik came close to winning this match, unknowingly losing a draw in the sixth game. The man had two wins in simplified positions, for example, where computers are significantly inferior to humans, and he almost won in the fourth game. He lost one game due to a major tactical error, and the other due to a risky maneuver in a more advantageous position.

In 2004 Kramnik defended his world title. the Braingames organization, which played a draw with the Hungarian Peter Leko in the Swiss city of Brissago (according to the rules of the match, Kramnik retained the title in a draw). In the meantime, he has participated in many chess tournaments with the best chess players in the world, including those held annually in the Dutch city of Wake an See, usually in the second half of January or at the turn of January and February (7). The current Wimbledon tournament in Wijk aan Zee called Tata Steel Chess is played by two Poles: and.

Match for the unified title of world chess champion

In September 2006, in Elista (the capital of the Russian Republic of Kalmykia) a match for the unified title of world chess champion took place between Vladimir Kramnik and Bulgarian Veselin Topalov (world champion of the International Chess Federation) (8).

8. Vladimir Kramnik (left) and Veselin Topalov in the first game of the 2006 World Chess Championship match, source: Mergen Bembinov, Associated Press

This match was accompanied by the most famous chess scandal (the so-called "toilet scandal"), associated with suspicion of unauthorized computer assistance. Kramnik was accused by Topalov's manager of supporting himself in the Fritz 9 program in a private toilet. After the closure of the separate toilets, Kramnik, in protest, did not start the next, fifth game (and he then led 3: 1) and lost it by technical defeat. After the toilets were opened, the match was over. After 12 main games the score was 6:6, Kramnik won 2,5:1,5 in extra time. After this match, at many of the most important chess tournaments, players are scanned with metal detectors before entering the gaming hall.

After winning the world title, Kramnik played a six-way match against the Deep Fritz 10 computer program in Bonn., November 25 - December 5, 2006 (9).

9. Kramnik - Deep Fritz 10, Bonn 2006, source: http://bit.ly/3j435Nz

10. The second leg of Deep Fritz 10 - Kramnik, Bonn, 2006

The computer won with a score of 4:2 (two wins and 4 draws). This was the last major human-machine collision, averaging about eight million positions per second with a mid-game depth of up to 17-18 laps. At that time, Fritz was the 3rd - 4th engine in the world. Kramnik received 500 10 euros for the start, he could have received a million for the victory. In the first draw, Kramnik did not take advantage of the chance to win. The second game became famous for one reason: Kramnik mated in one move in an equal endgame, which is commonly called an eternal mistake (Fig. 34). In this position, Kramnik unexpectedly played 3… He35 ??, and then got mate 7.Qh3 ≠. At a press conference organized after the game, Kramnik was unable to explain why he made this mistake, stated that he felt good that day, played the game correctly, correctly counted the HeXNUMX variation, then checked it several times, but as he claimed he postponed strange eclipses, blackouts.

The next three games ended in a draw. In the last, sixth game, in which he had nothing to lose and had to go all the way, Kramnik played uncharacteristically aggressive Naidorf's variant in the Sicilian Defence, and lost again. From this event, the entire chess world, especially sponsors, realized that the next such exhibition match would be played in one goal, because a person with his disability has no chance in a duel with a computer.

31th of December 2006 world chess champion Vladimir Kramnik he married the French journalist Marie-Laure Germont, and their church wedding took place on February 4 at the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Paris (11). The ceremony was attended by family and closest friends, for example, the representative of France since 1982, the tenth world chess champion.

11. King and his queen: Orthodox wedding in the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Paris, source: Photos from the wedding of Vladimir Kramnik | ChessBase

Vladimir Kramnik lost his world title in 2007 to Vishwanatana Ananda tournament in Mexico. In 2008 in Bonn, he also lost a match to reigning world champion Viswanathan Anand 4½:6½.

Kramnik has represented Russia many times in team tournaments, including: eight times at Chess Olympiads (three times złoty as a team and three times złoty as an individual). In 2013, he won a gold medal at the World Team Championship held in Antalya (Turkey).

Kramnik planned to end his chess career at 40, but it turns out he is still playing at the highest level, having the highest rating of his career at age 41. October 1, 2016 with a score of 2817 points. It is currently still ranked among the best in the world and its ranking on 2763 Jan 1 is 2021.

12. Vladimir Kramnik at the training camp of the most outstanding Indian juniors in the French town of Chen-sur-Leman in August 2019, photo: Amruta Mokal

At present, Vladimir Kramnik devotes more and more time to the education of young chess players (12). On January 7-18, 2020, the ex-world champion participated in a training camp in Chennai (Madras), India (13). Fourteen talented young chess players from India aged 12-16 (including the world's best in their age category D. Gukesh and R. Praggnanandaa) took part in a 10-day training camp. He has also been a training teacher for some of the best juniors in the world. Boris Gelfand - Belarusian grandmaster representing Israel, vice-champion of the world in 2012.

13. Vladimir Kramnik and Boris Gelfand train talented Indian juniors in Chennai, photo: Amruta Mokal, ChessBase India

The Kramniks live in Geneva and have two children, a daughter Daria (born 2008) (aged 14) and a son Vadim (born 2013). Perhaps their children in the future will follow in the footsteps of the famous dad.

14. Vladimir Kramnik and his daughter Daria, source: https://bit.ly/3akwBL9

List of world chess champions

Absolute world champions

1. Wilhelm Steinitz, 1886-1894

2. Immanuel Lasker, 1894-1921

3. José Raul Capablanca, 1921-1927

4 Aleksandr Alechin, 1927-1935 and 1937-1946

5. Max Euwe, 1935-1937

6. Mikhail Botvinnik, 1948-1957, 1958-1960 and 1961-1963

7. Vasily Smyslov, 1957-1958

8. Mikhail Tal, 1960-1961

9. Tigran Petrosyan, 1963-1969

10. Boris Spassky, 1969-1972

11. Bobby Fischer, 1972-1975

12. Anatoly Karpov, 1975-1985

13. Garry Kasparov, 1985-1993

PCA/Braingames World Champions (1993-2006)

1. Garry Kasparov, 1993-2000

2. Vladimir Kramnik, 2000-2006

FIDE World Champions (1993-2006)

1. Anatoly Karpov, 1993-1999

2. Alexander Chalifman, 1999-2000

3. Viswanathan Anand, 2000–2002.

4. Ruslan Ponomarev, 2002-2004

5. Rustam Kasymdzhanov, 2004-2005.

Veselin Topalov, 6-2005

Undisputed World Champions (after unification)

14. Vladimir Kramnik, 2006-2007

15. Viswanathan Anand, 2007–2013.

16. Magnus Carlsen, since 2013