The Force of Gênius Vladimir Kramnik

This name uses Eastern Slavic naming customs; the patronymic is Borisovich and
the family name is Kramnik.

Vladimir Kramnik

Kramnik at the 2005 Corus chess tournament

Fullname Vladimir BorisovichKramnik

Country Russia

Born 25 June 1975 (age 42)

Tuapse, Krasnodar Krai, Russian SFSR, Soviet

Union

Title Grandmaster (1992)

World 2000–06 (Classical)

Champion 2006–07 (undisputed)

FIDErating 2787 (January 2018)

Peak rating 2817 (October 2016)

Ranking No. 7 (January 2018)

 Peak ranking No. 1 (January1996)[1]

Vladimir BorisovichKramnik (Russian: Влади́мир Бори́сович Кра́мник; born 25 June

1975) is a Russian chess grandmaster. He was the Classical World Chess Champion from
2000 to 2006, and the undisputed World Chess Champion from 2006 to 2007. He has won
three team gold medals and three individual medals at Chess Olympiads.[2]
In October 2000, he defeated Garry Kasparov in a match played in London, and became
the Classical World Chess Champion. In late 2004, Kramnik successfully defended his title
against challenger PéterLékó in a drawn match played in Brissago, Switzerland. In October
2006, Kramnik, the Classical World Champion, defeated reigning FIDEWorld
Champion VeselinTopalov in a unification match, the World Chess Championship 2006. As
a result, Kramnik became the first undisputed World Champion, holding both the FIDE and
Classical titles, since Kasparov split from FIDE in 1993. In 2007, Kramnik lost the title
to Viswanathan Anand, who won the World Chess Championship 2007 tournament ahead
of Kramnik. He challenged Anand at the World Chess Championship 2008 to regain his
title, but lost. Nonetheless, he has remained a top player, and is the world No. 7 as of
November 2017.

Early career
Vladimir Kramnik was born in the town of Tuapse, on the shores of the Black Sea. His
father's birth name was Boris Sokolov, but he took his stepfather's surname when his
mother (Vladimir's grandmother) remarried.[3]As a child, Vladimir Kramnik 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 or even
the International Master title, but was only a Fide master. However, his selection was
supported by Garry Kasparov.[4] He scored eight wins, one draw, and no losses, a
performance of 2958, which won a gold medal for best rating performance.
The following year, Kramnik played in the very strong tournament in Linares. He finished
fifth, beating the then world number three, VassilyIvanchuk, 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.
In 1995, Kramnik served as a second for Kasparov in the Classical World Chess
Championship 1995 match against challenger Viswanathan Anand. Kasparov won the
match 10½–7½.
In January 1996, Kramnik became the world number-one rated player; although having the
same FIDE rating as Kasparov (2775), Kramnik became number one by having played
more games during the rating period in question. This was the first time since December
1985 that Kasparov was not world number one, and Kramnik's six month stretch (January
through June 1996) as world number one would be the only time from January 1986
through March 2006 where Kasparov was not world number one. By becoming number
one, Kramnik became the youngest ever to reach world number one, breaking Kasparov's
record; this record would stand for 14 years until being broken by Magnus Carlsen in
January 2010.
Kramnik continued to produce good results, including winning at Dortmund (outright or tied)
ten times from 1995 to 2011. He is the second of only nine chess players to have reached
a rating of 2800 (the first being Kasparov).
During his reign as world champion, Kramnik never regained the world number-one
ranking, doing so only in January 2008 after he had lost the title to Viswanathan Anand; as
in 1996, Kramnik had the same FIDE rating as Anand (2799) but became number one due
to more games played within the rating period. Kramnik's 12 years between world number-
one rankings is the longest since the inception of the FIDE ranking system in 1971
(disputed with Fischer "frozen" rating).

Chess career
Early setbacks
In the mid- and late-90s, Kramnik, although considered one of the strongest players in the
world, suffered several setbacks in his attempts to qualify for a World Championship match.
In 1994, he lost a quarterfinal candidates match for the PCA championship
to GataKamsky 1½–4½, and later that year, lost a semifinal candidates match for the FIDE
championship to Boris Gelfand with the score 3½–4½. In 1998, Kramnik faced Alexei
Shirov in a Candidates match for the right to play Garry Kasparov for the Classical World
Chess Championship, and lost 3½–5½. In 1999, Kramnik participated in the FIDE knockout
championship in Las Vegas, and lost in the quarterfinals to Michael Adams 2–4.
2000 World Championship
Main article: Classical World Chess Championship 2000
Suitable sponsorship was not found for a Kasparov–Shirov match, and it never took place.
In 2000, sponsorship was secured for a Kasparov–Kramnik match instead. This was
somewhat controversial, making Kramnik the first player since 1935 to play a world
championship match without qualifying.
In 2000, Kramnik played a sixteen-game match against Garry Kasparov in London, for the
Classical Chess World Championship. Kramnik began the match as underdog, but his
adoption of the Berlin Defence to Kasparov's Ruy Lopez opening was very effective. With
the white pieces, Kramnik pressed Kasparov hard, winning Games Two and Ten and
overlooking winning continuations in Games Four and Six. Kasparov put up little fight
thereafter, agreeing to short draws with the white pieces in Games 9 and 13. Kramnik won
the match 8½–6½ without losing a game (this was only the second time in history that a
World Champion had lost a match without winning a single game). This event marked the
first time Kasparov had been beaten in a World Championship match.
Kramnik's performance won him the Chess Oscar for 2000; this was the first time he had
received the award.
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 was 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 after making a speculative sacrifice, although subsequent analysis
showed that he had drawing chances in 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 outright for the first time (he had
tied for first with Kasparov in 2000), finishing undefeated with a +2 score, ahead of Garry
Kasparov, the world's highest-rated player at the time.
2004 title defense
Main article: Classical World Chess Championship 2004
From 25 September 2004 until 18 October 2004, Kramnik retained his title as Classical
World Chess Champion against challenger PéterLékó at Brissago, Switzerland, by barely
drawing the match in the last game. The 14-game match was poised in favor of Lékó right
up until Kramnik won the final game, thus forcing a 7–7 draw and ensuring that Kramnik
remained world champion.[5] The prize fund was 1 million Swiss francs, which was
about USD $770,000 at the time. Because of the drawn result, the prize was split between
the two players.
2006 Reunification match
Main article: FIDE World Chess Championship 2006
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 had seen two
"champions": the "classical" championship, claiming lineage dating back to Steinitz; and the
FIDE endorsed champion.
When Kramnik defeated Kasparov and inherited Kasparov's title, he also inherited some
controversies. Because the arrangements for the Kasparov Shirov match fell through, (it
appears Shirov refused to play for what he considered too small a prize fund[6]) Kasparov
decided to try to arrange a match with the highest rated player according to FIDE's rating
list. At the timeAnand was the highest rated player but Anand refused the match.[6][7] In the
meantime Kramnik overtook Anand in rating and so he was offered the match. Kramnik
accepted and ended up playing the match despite his loss of the qualifying match against
Alexei Shirov in 1998.
At the next FIDE world championship (FIDE World Chess Championship 2005), Kramnik
refused to participate, but indicated his willingness to play a match against the winner to
unify the world championship. After the tournament, negotiations began for a reunification
match between Kramnik and the new FIDE World Champion—VeselinTopalov of Bulgaria.
In April 2006, FIDE announced a reunification match between Kramnik and Topalov—
the FIDE World Chess Championship 2006. The match took place in Elista, Kalmykia. After
the first four games, Kramnik led 3–1 (out of a maximum of 12). After the fourth game,
however, Topalov's coach/manager Silvio Danailov protested that Kramnik was using the
toilet suspiciously frequently, implying that he was somehow receiving outside assistance
whilst doing so. Topalov said that he would refuse to shake hands with Kramnik in the
remaining games. The Appeals committee decided that the players' toilets be locked and
that they be forced to use a shared toilet, accompanied by an assistant arbiter.
Kramnik refused to play the fifth game unless the original conditions agreed for the match
were adhered to. As a result, the point was awarded to Topalov, reducing Kramnik's lead to
3–2. Kramnik stated that the appeals committee was biased and demanded that it be
replaced. As a condition to continue the match, Kramnik insisted on playing the remaining
games under the original conditions of the match contract, which allows use of the
bathroom at the players' discretion.
The controversy resulted in a heavy volume of correspondence to Chessbase and other
publications. The balance of views from fans was in support of Kramnik.[8] Prominent figures
in the chess world, such as John Nunn, Yasser Seirawan, and Bessel Kok also sided with
Kramnik.[9][10][11] The Russian and Bulgarian Chess Federations supported their respective
players.[12]
After twelve regular games the match was tied 6–6, although Kramnik continued to dispute
the result of the unplayed fifth game until the end of the match. On 13 October 2006 the
result of this disputed game became irrelevant as Kramnik won the rapid tie-break by a
score of 2½–1½.
Kramnik's victory helped him win the Chess Oscar for 2006, the second of his career.
2007 world championship tournament in Mexico

Kramnik, winner at Dortmund 2007

Main article: World Chess Championship 2007

When Kramnik won the 2006 unification match, he also won Topalov's berth in the 2007
World Championship as the incumbent FIDE champion. Although the rationale behind his
(and Garry Kasparov's) "classical" title is that the title should change hands by challenge
match rather than by tournament, Kramnik stated that he would recognize the winner of this
tournament as being the world champion.[13]
In the tournament, held in September 2007, Kramnik and Anand drew both of their games
but Kramnik finished second. The tournament, and the world championship, was won
by Viswanathan Anand.
2008 match
Main article: World Chess Championship 2008
Pursuant to the agreement reached before the 2007 tournament Kramnik and Anand
played a match of the World Championship title in 2008 in Bonn. He fell victim to Anand's
superior preparation, and lost three of the first six games (two with the white pieces).
Kramnik's play gradually improved, and although he managed a 29 move victory in game
10,[14] he did not win any other game, and lost the match to Anand by a score of 6½ to 4½
(three wins to Anand, one win to Kramnik, seven draws).
2009
Kramnik had exceptionally good results in 2009, winning once again in Dortmund and then
winning the Category 21 (average Elo = 2763) Tal Memorial in Moscow with 6/9 and a
2883 rating performance ahead of world champion Anand, VassilyIvanchuk, Magnus
Carlsen, LevonAronian, Boris Gelfand, former FIDE world
champion RuslanPonomariov, Peter Leko, Peter Svidler and Alexander Morozevich. At the
time, the average Elo rating of the field made it the strongest tournament in history.
Following this result, Kramnik stated that his goal was to regain the World Championship
title.[15]
He also participated in the London Chess Classic in December, finishing second to Magnus
Carlsen, losing their head-to-head encounter on the Black side of the English Opening.
Kramnik's performance in 2009 allowed his rating (average of July 2009 and January 2010
ratings) to be high enough to qualify for the Candidates Tournament to determine the
challenger for the World Chess Championship 2012.
2010
Kramnik began 2010 at the Corus chess tournament in the Netherlands, during which he
defeated new world number one Carlsen with the Black pieces in their head-to-head
encounter, ending Carlsen's 36-match unbeaten streak.[16] A late loss to Viswanathan
Anand knocked him out of first place, and Kramnik finished with 8/13, tying for second
place with Alexei Shirov behind Carlsen's 8½ points.
In May 2010 it was revealed that Kramnik had aided Viswanathan Anand in preparation for
the World Chess Championship 2010 against challenger VeselinTopalov. Anand won the
match 6½–5½ to retain the title.[17]
In April–May 2010 he tied for 1st–3rd with ShakhriyarMamedyarov and GataKamsky in the
President's Cup in Baku and won the event on tie-break after all finished on 5/7.[18]
Kramnik also participated in Dortmund, but had a subpar showing, losing to eventual
champion RuslanPonomariov and finishing in joint third place with 5/10.[19]
He then participated in the Grand Slam Chess Masters preliminary tournament in Shanghai
from September 3 to 8, where he faced world number four LevonAronian, Alexei Shirov,
and Wang Hao; the top two scorers qualified for the Grand Slam final supertournament
from October 9 to 15 in Bilbao against Carlsen and Anand.[20] Scoring 3/6, Kramnik tied for
second place with Aronian behind the winner Shirov's 4½/6. In the blitz playoff, Kramnik
defeated Aronian to qualify along with Shirov for the Grand Slam final.[21]
Shortly after qualifying for the last stage of the Grand Slam, Kramnik played on board one
for the Russian team in the 2010 Olympiad. He scored +2–0=7.
Following the Olympiad, Kramnik participated in the Grand Slam Chess Masters final in
Bilbao where he competed against Anand, Carlsen and Shirov. The average rating of the
field was 2789, the highest in history. After defeating world number one Carlsen for the
second consecutive time, and then Shirov in his first two games, Kramnik drew his final four
games to finish in clear first with 4/6. This gave Kramnik the distinction of having won the
two strongest tournaments in chess history.
Kramnik's attempt to defend his 2009 title at the Tal Memorial in Moscow ended with a 7th
place, while he finished 5th in the London Chess Classic in England.
2011
2011 brought varied results. In Wijkaan Zee Kramnik shared fifth with MaximeVachier-
Lagrave, and in the Candidates he was eliminated by Alexander Grischuk. He won
Dortmund for the tenth time, with LêQuangLiêmin second place, and shared third
behind Peter Svidler and Alexander Morozevich in the Russian Superfinal. Kramnik won
the third London Chess Classic with four wins and four draws, and a rating performance
over 2900 Elo. Hikaru Nakamura came second.[22] However, in the earlier 6th Tal Memorial
2011 Moscow he came 8th out of 10, with 2 losses (to Nepomniachtchi and Svidler) and 7
draws, with Magnus Carlsen winning the overall tournament on tiebreak
from LevonAronian.
2012
Kramnik played a friendly match against LevonAronian, which finished 3–3 (with a win for
Aronian in a rapid game that didn't count as tiebreak). In Tal Memorial he shared fourth
place behind Magnus Carlsen, Fabiano Caruana and TeimourRadjabov. He finished
second in the London Chess Classic behind Carlsen.
2013
Kramnik played in the 2013 Candidates Tournament, which took place in London, from 15
March to 1 April. He finished with +4−1=9, sharing the first place with Magnus Carlsen, who
won due to having better tiebreaks.[23]
In the 2013 Alekhine Memorial tournament, held from 20 April to 1 May, Kramnik finished
seventh, with +2−2=5.[24]
In the 2013 Tal Memorial tournament, held from 13 June to 23 June, Kramnik finished tenth
out of ten, with +0−3=6.[25]
In the Chess World Cup 2013, held in Norway from 11 August to 2 September, Kramnik
finished in first place, defeating Dmitry Andreikin in the four-game final match 2½–1½.[26]
2015

Kramnik in the 18th round of the World Blitz Championship 2015 (winning against LevonAronian)

Kramnik did not succeed in defending his title in the Chess World Cup. In the third round he
was defeated by Andreikin.
He participated as one of 130 grandmasters at the combined World Rapid and Blitz
Championships in Berlin that was organized by FIDE from 10 to 14 October. In the World
Rapid Championship he remained unbeaten, winning five games of 15 and reaching the
6th place.
Kramnik finished third in the World Blitz Championship in Berlin with 15 / 21. He was a half-
point behind the winner Alexander Grischuk and lost second place on tiebreak
to MaximeVachier-Lagrave.
2016
Kramnik competed in the Dortmund Sparkassen Chess Meeting, held from 9 – 17 July and
finished joint second with 4/7.[27][28]
He played in the Tal Memorial (a ten-player round-robin tournament) in Moscow from 26
September – 6 October. He finished sixth with 4.5/9 in the opening blitz round-robin on 25
September, meaning that he was given one more game to play with the black pieces than
with the white in the classical tournament.[29][30] He finished joint fifth in the classical
tournament, again with 4.5/9.[31]
He participated in three of the four events of the Grand Chess Tour (he withdrew from
the Sinquefield Cup due to health issues and was replaced by Svidler[32]): Kramnik played
the Paris Grand Chess Tour speed chess tournament, the Your Next Move Grand Chess
Tour speed chess tournament, and the London Chess Classic classical chess tournament.
All the events of the Grand Chess Tour were 10-player round robin tournaments.
The Paris Grand Chess Tour tournament was held from 9 – 12 June and was composed of
a mixture of rapid and blitz games.[33] Kramnik finished ninth with 5.5/18, above only
comparatively low-rated wildcard player Laurent Fressinet.[34]
The Your Next Move Grand Chess Tour tournament was held from 17 – 20 June in Leuven,
Belgium. Like the Paris GCT, it was composed of a combination of rapid and blitz games.
Kramnik finished joint eighth with 2.5/9.[35]
The London Chess Classic was held from 9 – 18 December.[36] Kramnik finished joint third
with 5/9.[37]

Deep Fritz match

Kramnik played a six-game match against the computer program Deep Fritz in Bonn,
Germany from 25 November to 5 December 2006, losing 2–4 to the machine, with 2 losses
and 4 draws. He received 500,000 Eurosfor playing and would have twice as much had he
won the match. Deep Fritz version 10 ran on a computer containing two Intel Core 2
Duo CPUs. Kramnik received a copy of the program in mid-October for testing, but the final
version included an updated opening book.[38] Except for limited updates to the opening
book, the program was not allowed to be changed during the course of the match.
The endgame tablebases used by the program were restricted to five pieces[39] even though
a complete six-piece tablebase was widely available.
The first game ended in a draw.[40] A number of commentators claimed that Kramnik missed
a win.[41] The second game was won by Deep Fritz, due to a mistake by Kramnik, who failed
to defend against a threatened mate-in-one. Susan Polgar called it the "blunder of the
century".[42] The third, fourth and fifth games of the match ended in draws. In the last game
Kramnik played the aggressive Sicilian Defense in an attempt to win with black and hence
even the match, but was outplayed by Fritz. Kramnikwas forced to resign, and Fritz won the
match 4–2.[43]

Personal life

Vladimir Kramnik (right) playing chess with VitaliKlitschko, Dortmund, 2002.

On 30 December 2006Kramnik married French journalist Marie-Laure Germon. They have

two children: daughter Daria, and son Vadim Vladimirovich.[44]
Kramnikhas been diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis, an uncommon form of arthritis. It
causes him great physical discomfort while playing. In January 2006, Kramnik announced
that he would skip the Corus Chess Tournament in Wijkaan Zee to seek out treatment for
his arthritis.[45] He returned from treatment in June 2006, playing in the 37th Chess
Olympiad. He scored a +4 result, achieving the highest rating performance (2847) of the
1307 participating players.

Notable tournament victories

 1990 Russian Championship, Kuibyshev (classical) I
 1991 World Championship (U18), Guarapuava (classical) I
 1992 Chalkidiki (classical) 7½/11 I
 1994 Overall result PCA Intel Grand Prix'94 I
 1995 Dortmund (classical) 7/9 I
 1995 Horgen (classical) 7/10 I–II
 1995 Belgrade (classical) 8/11 I–II
 1996 Monaco 16/22 I
 1996 Dos Hermanas (classical) 6/9 I–II
 1996 Dortmund (classical) 7/9 I–II
 1997 Dos Hermanas (classical) 6/9 I–II
 1997 Dortmund (classical) 6½/9 I
 1997 Tilburg (classical) 8/11 I–III
 1998 Wijkaan Zee (classical) 8½/13 I–II
 1998 Dortmund (classical) 6/9 I–III
 1998 Monaco (blindfold and rapidplay) 15/22 I
 1999 Monaco (blindfold and rapidplay) 14½/22 I
 2000 Linares (classical) 6/10 I–II
 2000 Dortmund (classical) 6/9 I–II
 2001 Match Kramnik vs. Leko (rapidplay) 7–5
 2001 Match Botvinnik memorial Kramnik vs. Kasparov (classical) 2–2
 2001 Match Botvinnik memorial Kramnik vs Kasparov (rapidplay) 3–3
 2001 Monaco (blindfold and rapidplay) 15/22 I–II
 2001 Match Kramnik vs. Anand (rapidplay) 5–5
 2001 Dortmund (classical) 6½/10 I–II
 2002 Match Advanced Chess Kramnik vs. Anand (León) 3½–2½
 2003 Linares (classical) 7/12 I–II
 2003 Cap d'Agde (France)
 2004 Handicap Simul (classical)
 2004 Kramnik vs. National Team of Germany 2½–1½
 2004 Linares (classical) 7/12 I
 2004 Monaco (overall result) 14½/22 I–II
 2006 Gold medal at Turin Olympiad with overall best performance (2847) 7/10
 2006 Dortmund (classical) 4½/7 I
 2007 Monaco (blindfold and rapidplay) 15½/22 I
 2007 Dortmund (classical) 5/7 I
 2007 Tal Memorial 6½/9 I
 2009 Dortmund 6½/9 I
 2009 Zürich (rapidplay) 5/7 I
 2009 Tal Memorial 6/9 I
 2010 President's Cup in Baku (rapidplay) 5/7 I–III
 2010 Bilbao Grand Slam final 4/6 I
 2011 Dortmund 7/10 I
 2011 Hoogeveen 4½/6 I
 2011 London Chess Classic 6/8 I
 2013 Chess World Cup 2013

World championship matches and qualifiers

 PCA Quarterfinals, June 1994, New York, Kramnik–GataKamsky (1½–4½).
 FIDE Semifinals, August 1994 Sanghi Nagar, Kramnik–Boris Gelfand (3½–4½).
 Classical WCC Candidates Match, 1998, Cazorla, Kramnik–Alexei Shirov (3½–5½).
 FIDE WCC Knockout Quarterfinals, July 1999, Las Vegas, Kramnik–Michael
Adams (2–4, including rapid playoff).
 Classical World Chess Championship 2000, London, Kramnik–Garry Kasparov (8½–
6½)
 Classical World Chess Championship 2004, Brissago, Kramnik–PéterLékó (7–7),
Kramnik retains.
 FIDE World Chess Championship 2006, Elista, Kramnik–Topalov (6–6, 2½–1½ rapid
playoff), Kramnik unifies the title
 FIDE World Chess Championship 2007 Runner up, Mexico City (loses the title to
Anand, joint second Gelfand).
 World Chess Championship 2008, Bonn, Kramnik–Anand (4½–6½), Anand retains
 World Chess Championship 2012 Candidates Match Quarterfinals, April 2011, Kazan,
Kramnik–Radjabov (2–2, 2–2 rapid playoff, 2½–1½ blitz playoff), Kramnik advances
 World Chess Championship 2012 Candidates Match Semifinals, April 2011, Kazan,
Kramnik–Grischuk (2–2, 2–2 rapid playoff, ½–1½ blitz playoff), Kramnik eliminated
 World Chess Championship 2013 Runner-up, Candidates Tournament, March–April
2013, London, +4−1=9
 World Chess Championship 2014 Third place, Candidates Tournament, Khanty-
Mansiysk, +3-3=8