VLADIMIR KRAMNIK

Vladimir Kramnik
Born on June 25, 1975Winner of Chess Olympiads 1992, 1994, 1996, as a member of the Russian team Winner of “Grand Prix Intel” in rapid chess 1997 July 1 2006 rating – 2743 Assistants: Peter Svidler, Migel Ilyeskas, Manager Karsten Hensel
An outstanding player of positional game, brilliant master of defense, one of the most erudite players of our time. Vladimir has chess at his fingertips. He gets a deep insight into a position, seeing the whole picture with the slightest nuances, often without any calculation of variants. In addition he has a wonderful sense of initiative. On the surface the cautious academic style of Kramnik’s play may seem rather deceptive. Once the position gets sharper, we see a wonderful tactician able to sacrifice and play in a very aggressive manner. He plays the position, that’s all there is to say about it. If the positional considerations suggest sacrifice, Kramnik is sure to sacrifice. Most victories Kramnik wins in a technical style. Yet this is the consequence of his frugality and pragmatism. In this way he is similar to Karpov. Kramnik is a disciple of Botvinnik-Karpov school. Great teachers saw his unique talent and taught all the subtleties of grand chess to him. And at the same time his innate style matured too. Very soon the young student began to show good results and was found among adult chess players.Throughout the ‘90s Kramnik has been successfully taking part in elite chess tournaments accumulating chess strength and gaining experience. For the time being, Kramnik’s career has reached its peak in the match against Kasparov (London, 2000). Vladimir managed to neutralize a formidable adversary and impose upon him a game of his own. After a short recession at the turn of the millennium Kramnik is again on the rise. His recent brilliant performance at the Torino Olympiad showed that Kramnik is up to the mark. He is young, eager to fight and he certainly does not want sportsmanship.In the forthcoming match with Topalov, Kramnik stands a good chance of winning. If Vladimir manages his power to last the whole distance, if he keeps the fight within the well-learnt schemes, if he shows his best as a positional virtuoso, then Veselin will have a hard time of it. What Kramnik can turn to his advantage is that Topalov is considered favorite in this match. High expectation of the world community and great responsibility may bind the Bulgarian chess player and prevent him from playing in an easy-going manner of his. Besides he does not have enough experience of playing in matches at such a high level. As for Kramnik, he passed through the hard school of Kasparov in childhood and in London match. Such experience is not to be substituted by any training.