Vladimir Kramnik

Chess Player

• Born: June 25, 1975
• Place of Birth: Tuapse, Russia, Soviet Union (now in Russia)

SPORT: Chess

Early Life

Vladimir Borisovich Kramnik was born on June 25, 1975, in Tuapse, Russia, Soviet Union (now in Russia), in the Krasnodar region on the northeast corner of the Black Sea. His father, Boris Kramnik, was a respected sculptor. His mother, Irina, was a music teacher. Russian players have dominated championship chess since World War II, with only a few exceptions. Vladimir learned to play chess at the age of five. He studied at the famous chess school established by the Soviet Union’s first world chess champion, Mikhail Botvinnik. Excellence in competitive chess requires many years of intense preparation and study. A young chess player must compete in tournaments with other outstanding players. Vladimir practiced diligently, and his enormous talent for chess was quickly recognized.

The Road to Excellence

The International Chess Olympiad is held every four years. More than one hundred countries send their best players to compete in this team event. When former world champion Anatoly Karpov could not play for the Russian team in the 1992 Manila Olympiad, the reigning champion, Garry Kasparov, recommended sixteen-year-old Vladimir to take his place. Kasparov had been impressed with the confident and mature play Vladimir had already exhibited. Vladimir’s selection was controversial because of his age. However, Vladimir silenced his critics with an outstanding performance. He won a gold medal by winning eight games while losing none and drawing one against strong competition. The chess world was on notice: A budding star had arrived.

The following year, Vladimir joined the world’s best players in the highly competitive Linares tournament in Spain. His fifth-place finish established him among the leading players in the world. He was named a grandmaster, a title awarded to the world’s strongest chess players. Vladimir’s chess style was strong and aggressive, featuring powerful attacks against his opponent’s king. In addition, he was known for the profound preparation of his opening maneuvers.

Over the next few years, Vladimir continued to excel in the most competitive grand-master tournaments. He came in first in numerous tournaments: in Chalkidiki, Greece, in 1992; in Belgrade, Yugoslavia (now in Serbia), in 1995; in Monaco, in 1996; in Tilburg, the Netherlands, in 1997; in Wijk aan Zee, the Netherlands, in 1998; and numerous times at Dortmund, Germany. Internationally competitive chess players are ranked by the Fédération Internationale des Échecs (FIDE), the world chess organization, according to tournament and match results. Despite his aggressive style, Vladimir was difficult to beat. In 1999 and the first half of 2000, he set a world record by playing more than eighty consecutive games without a loss. By the end of the 1990s, Vladimir’s rating was approaching 2800, one of the highest in chess history.

The Emerging Champion

By 2000, Vladimir had earned the right to play for the world chess championship in a match against Kasparov, who had been world champion since 1985, when, at the age of twenty-two, he defeated Karpov. Kasparov, widely acknowledged as the strongest player in chess history, was the heavy favorite to beat Vladimir. Kasparov had already defended his title against Karpov in several rematches and against the grandmasters Nigel Short and Viswanathan Anand. The sixteen-game championship match began on October 8, 2000, in the Riverside Studios in London, England. The match was sponsored by the BrainGames Network, which was offering the winner a $2 million prize and the solid silver Howard Staunton trophy crafted by Asprey and Garrard, jewelers to Queen Elizabeth II.

The match was broadcast on the Internet, and chess enthusiasts worldwide followed each game's moves. Kasparov had the white pieces for game one and Vladimir the black. Vladimir stunned the chess world on move three by playing the “Berlin Defense” to Kasparov’s aggressive “Ruy Lopez” opening. The Berlin Defense, considered to give white too strong an advantage, had rarely been played for a century. However, it proved a solid defensive opening system, and the queen pieces were exchanged—captured and taken off the board—on move eight. Kasparov could not break through Vladimir’s stodgy defense. Game one ended in a draw.

In game two, Vladimir shocked the chess world by defeating Kasparov in a well-played endgame when the game pieces have been greatly reduced. In game three, Kasparov aimed for revenge with an improved opening move but again could not break through Vladimir’s Berlin Defense. The pattern repeated throughout the match. Vladimir’s defense was impenetrable.

With the white pieces, Vladimir won the tenth game brilliantly, in only twenty-five moves, and took a two-game advantage. On November 2, 2000, Vladimir won the match with a final score of 8.5 points to Kasparov’s 6.5 points and was crowned the seventeenth world champion in chess history. Although stunned, Kasparov was gracious in defeat.

Continuing the Story

Vladimir’s victory over Kasparov in 2000 was notable for many reasons. At the time, Kasparov seemed nearly unbeatable. In defeating him, Vladimir did not lose a single game, a feat last accomplished by Jose Raoul Capablanca in his 1921 World Championship match against Emanuel Lasker. In addition, Vladimir achieved his victory with his startling use of the antiquated Berlin Defense, which stymied Kasparov’s power of attack. Vladimir successfully defended his world title against Peter Leko in 2004 and against Veselin Topalov in 2006. He also won several grandmaster tournaments. He played matches against the world’s most advanced chess computers, which had reached strengths comparable to the best human chess players. Vladimir was admired for his gentlemanly behavior and sportsmanship as a world champion. His accomplishments earned him the prestigious Russian title “Master of Sport.”

On December 30, 2006, Vladimir married Marie-Laure Germon. He was also diagnosed with a form of arthritis, which made sitting for long periods uncomfortable and hampered his chess play. In September 2007, he lost the world chess championship to the brilliant grandmaster Anand. In October 2008, in Bonn, Germany, Anand defeated Vladimir in a world championship rematch by a final score of 6.5 points to 4.5 points. In 2013, Vladimir won the Chess World Cup. In 2016, Kramnik reached his peak rating of 2,817, and he announced his retirement in 2019. He continued to play chess online until late 2023, when he claimed another player was cheating and violating the platform's rules. The controversy led to the removal of Kramnik's account.

Summary

Vladimir Kramnik reigned as world chess champion from 2000 to 2007. Excelling at chess requires not only intense mental and theoretical preparation but also physical training in order to sustain concentration and stamina during grueling matches. Vladimir’s rise to the world championship at the age of twenty-four was a remarkable achievement. Vladimir joined a historic group of world chess champions including such illustrious players as Mikhail Tal, Boris Spassky, and Bobby Fischer.

Bibliography

Bareev, Eugeny, and Ilya Levitov. From London to Elista: The Inside Story of the World Championship Matches That Vladimir Kramnik Won against Garry Kasparov, Peter Leko, and Veselin Topalov. New in Chess, 2008.

Cox, John. The Berlin Wall: The Variation That Brought Down Kasparov. Quality Chess, 2007.

Hensel, Carsten. Vladimir Kramnik: The Inside Story of a Chess Genius. Quality Chess, 2018.

Kramnik, Vladimir, and Iahov Damsky. Kramnik: My Life and Games. Everyman Chess, 2000.

Lakdawala, Cyrus. Kramnik: Move by Move. Gloucester, 2012.

"Profile Info: Vladimir Kramnik." International Chess Federation, ratings.fide.com/profile/4101588. Accessed 20 June 2024.

Timman, Jan. Vladimir Kramnik Is the Man to Follow in the QGD. Interchess BV, 2017.

Topalov, Veselin, and Zhivko Ginchev. Topalov-Kramnik 2006 World Chess Championship: On the Edge in Elista. Russell Enterprises, 2007.