FAMOUS CHESS PLAYERS              

Updated : Dec 2008  

VLADIMIR KRAMNIK SPECIAL PAGE


         No6  :  KRAMNIK Vladimir    (RUS)         

Born:   1975

Rating:   2772   (Oct. 2008)

   «© Vladimir Kramnik - www.kramnik.com - photos»
              Vladimir Kramnik - FIDE World Chess Champion 2006      


The Russian grandmaster Vladimir Kramnik is a major actor of the contemporary chess scene, former classical then reunified world chess champion. He is only 6th in the rating list established last October, following a fall of his level in recent tournaments, but his rating reached impressive heights at certain times of his career, making him one of the 4 chess players ever having exceeded the 2800 rating points, with 2809 points in January 2002. He is the only player to have beaten Kasparov in a match. That took place in 2000 in the chess championship which held at London, ending the reign of Kasparov which lasted more than 15 years. He became thus the classical world chess champion. At that year the title of FIDE world champion was held by Vishy Anand, but due to the prestige associated to the name of Kasparov the title held by Kramnik enjoyed an even greater authority for chess players. In 2004 he defended his title in a match against Péter Lékó which was concluded by a draw, allowing him to retain his title. In 2005 his course was disturbed by health problems, his level regressed and his rating fell to the 9th world place.
In 2006 the FIDE organized a match in order to reunify the title of world champion by opposing the classical champion Kramnik to the FIDE champion 2005 Veselin Topalov. This match took place at Elista and it is Kramnik who won it; he became thus the first undisputed world chess champion since the split of the title done by Kasparov in 1993. This victory gave him the right to take part in the championship tournament 2007 at Mexico City to the place of Topalov. He lost his title in this tournament which was won by Anand. In 2008, profiting of a right of revenge, he faced Anand in the chess championship at Bonn (Germany), this time in a match; but in spite of his predilection for championships in match Kramnik was quickly dominated and didn't significantly manage to stop the spiral of his defeats. He lost this match and thus Anand retained his title of unified champion. By the same occasion he lost the opportunity he would have had if he had won to take part in the match of the next year championship which will oppose Anand to the winner of the challenger match Topalov-Kamsky.

   «Vladimir Kramnik ©-Échecs Académie»
    What Vladimir Kramnik, World Chess Champion 2006, is he thinking about ?!  


We choose, as an illustration of the Kramnik's style, an interesting short game played two years ago, against Victor Bologan during the Dortmund Sparkassen 2004.

Kramnik, Vladimir (2770) - Bologan, Viktor (2663)
- (B41) Sicilian Defense, Kan Variation,
Maroczy bind (Reti Variation), 0-1,
Dortmund-B playoff blitz,
Dortmund Sparkassen 2004 -


     1.e4    c5        Sicilian
     2.Nf3    e6
     3.d4    cxd4
     4.Nxd4    a6        Kan
     5.c4 Maroczy     Nf6
     6.Nc3 Maroczy     d6       (Qc7)


In our opinion, it is not very justified to classify this game, like ChessBase, (A31) English Defense, Symetrical Variation; it is not wrong indeed, but it is not pertinent!... Possible is here to play the Bronstein Variation: 6...Bb4!? 7.Bd3 Nc6 8.Bc2 with possibly the continuation 8...Qc7 9.0-0 0-0 10.Kh1 Nxd4 11.Qxd4 Ng4 12.f4 = (Mestel, A Jonathan (2500) - Portisch, Lajos (2630) 1-0 (B41) Phillips&Drew, 1982).But, the main answer is: 6...Qc7; for example 6...Qc7 7.a3 Be7 8.Be2 0-0 9.0-0 Nc6 10.Be3 d6 11.Rc1 +/= (Munoz Pantoja, Miguel (2474) - Epishin, Vladimir (2600) ½-½ (B41) Bardalona op 31st, 2005).

     7.Be2 Main line   Nbd7!?  (Be7)
     8.Be3 (8.0-0)    b6          (Qc7)
     9.0-0    Bb7
     10.f3    ...


Interesting crossroads, which one can access by various ways. This beginning seems to have been introduced for the first time in the game: Van Scheltinga, Theo D (2330) - Hartoch, Robert, G (2380) ½-½ (A31) NED-ch Leeuwarden, 1973, after the following order of moves 1.Nf3 c5 2.c4 Nf6 3.Nc3 b6 4.e4 d6 5.d4 cxd4 6.Nxd4 Bb7 7.f3. In this position, on more than 200 games in database White & Black chances are balanced.

DIAG 1 :


     10...    Be7  Main line
     11.a4! (11.Qd2)   ...


Stohl wrote: "White shouldn't hesitate with this move: 11.Qd2 0-0 12.a4 Rc8 13.a5 Ne5!? 14.axb6 Nxc4 15.Bxc4 Rxc4 16.Nb3 Rb4 17.Na5 Ba8 18.Na4 Rb5 19.Nc3 Rb4 20.Na4 Rc5 21.Nc3 = ½-½ Adams, Michael (2680) - Van Wely, Loek (2655) (A31) Tilburg Fontys, 1997".

     11...    0-0  (Qc7!?)
     12.a5! Initiative   ...


This quick attack on the Queenside is very dangerous for Black and offers to White, since 1984, a very high score, so much so that one can see there the refutation of last Black moves.

     12...    bxa5  (Qc7)
     13.Nb3 Initiative   ...


DIAG 2 :


In this delicate situation it is not easy to find the best Black Defense; have mainly been tested out here:

  • 12...bxa5
    • :    like in the present game, leads to a determinative White superiority, without only victory for Black, illustrated for example by the game: 12...bxa5 13.Nb3 Rb8 14.Nxa5 Ba8 15.Qd2 (idea: Na4 & b4) Qc7 16.Rfc1 Ne5 17.Na4 Bc5 18.b4! +/= (Ivanchuck, Vassily (2720) - Adams, Michael (2620) 1-0 (A31) Dortmund, 1992).

  • 12...Qc7
    • :    for example: 12...Qc7 13.Nb3 Rab8 14.axb6 Nxb6 15.Na5! Ba8 (defensive) 16.Qd2 Rfd8 17.Rfc1 +/= (Gulko, Boris F (2620) - Shapiro, Daniel E (2278) 1-0 (A31) CCA ChessWise op, 1999).

  • 12...d5
    • :    for example: 12...d5 13.exd5 exd5 14.Nxd5 Bxd5 15.cxd5 Nxd5 16.Bf2 +/= (Stohl, Igor (2550) - Varga, Zoitan (2520) ½-½ (A31) CRO-chT2 Pula, 1998).

       «Vladimir Kramnik © 2006 Échecs Académie
    Vladimir Kramnik World Chess
    Champion (Elista, 2006)»
         Vladimir Kramnik World Chess     Champion (Elista, 2006)   Kramnik-Topalov, Tie Break game  


         13...    Rb8    Main line
         14.Nxa5 Main line   Ba8     Only move
         15.Qd2 Main line   Qc7     Main line
         16.Rfc1  +/=   Nc5?!   (Rfc8!?)


    DIAG 3 :


    Grandmaster Stohl, a recognized specialist of all this variation, writes here: "Nc5?! Losing another tempo in an inferior position puts Black on the brink of defeat... Better is the patient 16...Rfc8 +/=". Effectively, are conceivable:

  • 16...Ne5
    • :    hence: 16...Ne5 17.Na4 Bc6 18.b4 Bxa4 19.Rxa4 Nfd7 20.Raa1 Rfc8 21.Nb3 +/- (Ivanchuk, Vassily (2720) - Adams, Michael (2820) 1-0 (A31) Dortmund, 1992).

  • 16...Rfc8!?
    • :    for example: 16...Rfc8!? 17.b4 d5!? 18.Nxd5 exd5 19.cxd5 Qd6 20.Nc6 Bxc6 21.Rxa6 Qxb4 22.Qxb4 Rxb4 23.dxc6 Nf8 = (Cvetkovic, Srdjan (2470) - Cabrilo, Goran (2480) ½-½ (A31) YUG-chT Igalo, 1994).

         17.b4! +/-   Ncd7    (Rxb4)
         18.b5!?N (18.Nd5!)   Nc5     Only move


    DIAG 4 :


    Without any doubt, the strongest White tactics is: 18.Nd5! (Qd8 19.Nxe7+ Qxe7 20.Bf4 e5 21.Be3 h6 22.Rd1 Ne8 24.c5! +- (Rausis, Igor (2575) - Frechmann, Mark (2280) 1-0 (A31) Baden-Baden open, 1993)) exd5 19.cxd5 Qd8 20.Nc6 Bxc6 (Qe8) 21.dxc6 +-. Has equally been played: 18.Na4 Rfd8 19.Qe1 Re8 20.Rab1 Bd8 21.Kh1 h6 22.Qd2 Ne5 23.Bf1 +/= (Doettling, Fabian (2519) - Vuckovic, Aleksandar (2321) 1-0 (A31) Bundesliga, 2004). The Kramnik's novelty is another interesting winning alternative, exploiting the bad location of Black pieces!

       «Vladimir Kramnik ©- Agence France Presse/Corbis
    Yahoo! - it.geocities.com/»
           Vladimir Kramnik at the 2005 - Corus Chess tournament - Photo credit stenslag  


         19.bxa6! Best move   Nxa6?  (Qb6!?)


    Stohl wrote: "Very natural, even more so on a blitz game. However, now White will gain more time by attacking the unprotected Knight and Black's defense will collapse". Anyway, Black's position is indefensible, but an ultimate attempt to resist is: 19...Qa7!? 20.Nb5 Qxa6 21.Nb3 Qc8 +/=.

         20.Nb5 Logical   Qd7  Defensive


    DIAG 5 :


    We take the opportunity of this crucial position to illustrate our theory related to the "Control and Domination" (NCT: New Chess Theory). You may refer yourself to:      NCT VII - "Control and Domination I" and      NCT VIII - "Control and Domination II" .  The cartography of this position (DIAG 5) is the following:


    In this conditions we have the numerical values:

    | W | = 35
    | B | = 25
    | Y | = 1
    | R | = 3


    Of this numerical values we immediately deduce the "Radiation rates":

      WRR  =   100  x   35 / (64  -  4)   %   =  58   %
      BRR   =   100  x   25 / (64  -  4)   %   =  42   %


    Thus the White domination is very significant!

         21.Nb3! The best!   Bb7?!  (Nc7)


    Equally insufficient is the defense: 21...Nc7 22.Ra7 (22.Rd1) Rfc8 23.Rca1 +/-

    DIAG 6 :


    This time Kramnik continues his attack without any obstacle.

         22.Rd1 +/-   Rfd8?!    (Qc8 +/-)
         23.Ba7! Strong!   Ra8         Only choice
         24.Bb6 +-   ...  


       «Vladimir Kramnik ©- TeleSchach: Schach aktuell
    Dortmunder Sparkassen Chess Meeting 2004»
    Dortmunder Sparkassen Chess Meeting 2004 Vladimir Kramnik - Viswanathan Anand


    DIAG 7 :


    After: 22...Qc8 23.Nxd6 Bxd6 24.Qxd6 Bxe4 25.Nd4! Bb7 26.Nb5 +- White wins easily.

         24...    Rdb8    Only choice
         25.Nxd6?! (25.c5!)   ...      


       «Vladimir Kramnik ©- www.geocities.com/
    Vladimir Kramnik deeply concentrated»
    Vladimir Kramnik ©- www.geocities.com/ Vladimir Kramnik deeply concentrated


    More radical was: 25.c5! d5 26.e5 Ne8 27.Na7 +-.

         25...    Bxe4?    (Bd5)


    DIAG 8 :


    Now the endgame is totally obvious!

         26.Nxe4    Qxd2    Only choice
         27.Nexd2    Rxb6     Only choice
         28.c5!    1-0    


    DIAG 9 :


    Black loses a piece: 28...Rc6 29.Bb5! Rxc5 30.Rxa6 +-.

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