Vladimir Kramnik

Vladimir Kramnik (Владимир Крамник), born June 25, 1975, is a Russian chess player and the current Classical World Chess Champion. In the April 2006 FIDE ELO rating list Kramnik is rated 2729, ranking ninth in the world by rating.

In October 2000, he beat Garry Kasparov in a 16 game match played in London, becoming the Classical World Chess Champion. In the fall of 2004, Kramnik successfully defended his title against challenger Péter Lékó in a 14 game match played in Brissago, Switzerland.

He will defend his title against Veselin Topalov in 2006 september and will face Deep Fritz computer in a revenge match a while after.

Biography

Kramnik was born in the town of Tuapse, on the shores of the Black Sea. As a child, he 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, but his selection was supported by Garry Kasparov. He went on to win eight games and one draw with no losses.

The following year, Kramnik played in the very strong tournament in Linares. He finished fifth, beating the then world number three, Vassily Ivanchuk 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. Kramnik continued to produce good results, including winning at Dortmund (outright or tied) for three successive years between 1996 and 1998.

World champion

In 2000, he played a sixteen game match against Garry Kasparov in London, for the Classical Chess World Championship, in the tradition going back to Wilhelm Steinitz.

Kramnik began the match as underdog, but his adoption of the Berlin Defense to Kasparov's Ruy Lopez opening was very effective, and although pressed hard by Kasparov in those games where the latter played white, repeatedly managed to avoid defeat. Kramnik won the match 8.5 - 6.5 without losing a game. This event marked the first time Kasparov had been beaten in a World Championship match.

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 has been 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, although subsequent analysis showed that with perfect play, he might have been able to draw from 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 that time.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.