Vladimir KRAMNIK, Chess-Theory, Vladimir Kramnik Special page, Images, Vladimir Kramnik games, Kramnik-Bologan, Dortmund Sparkassen, 2004

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- VLADIMIR KRAMNIK SPECIAL PAGE -
- Updated: October 2006 -

N^o3 : KRAMNIK Vladimir (RUS)

Born: 1975

Rating : 2750 (+7) (Oct. 2006, 7 games)

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

Vladimir Kramnik is incontestably one of two or three best players of today (excepted Kasparov and Fischer); in other words Vladimir Kramnik, Veselin Topalov and Viswanathan Anand are currently the only three players in activity able to reach the top level of world chess champion.
Obviously Kramnik is now the very official FIDE World Chess champion and deserves well this title after a difficult and very disputed match. But it remains to him to reinforce his authority by proving that his superiority is undeniable, exactly as did Garry Kasparov.

«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»

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!) ...

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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