VLADIMIR KRAMNIK (born Jun-25-1975, 49 years old) Russia PRONUNCIATION: [what is this?] Former World Champion - and former top ranked player in the world - Vladimir Borisovich Kramnik was born in Tuapse, on the shores of the Black Sea, on June 25, 1975. As a child, Vladimir Kramnik studied in the chess school established by Mikhail Botvinnik. In 2000, he won the Classical World Championship from Garry Kasparov, then won the unified title when he defeated Veselin Topalov in 2006 to become the 14th undisputed World Champion. Kramnik relinquished the title in 2007 to his successor, the 15th undisputed (and now former) World Champion, Viswanathan Anand. Championships <Age> In 1991, Kramnik won the World Under 18 Championship in Guarapuava, Brazil. <National> Kramnik finished equal first in the 1990 RSFSR (Russian) Championship in Kuibyshev, Russia, but placed second on tiebreak, behind Andrei Kharlov. He came third ex aequo in the Russian Championship Superfinal (2013) after a last round battle with Ian Nepomniachtchi for a share of first and the possibility of the title for the first time. However, he lost the game and scored 5.5/9. <World> Kramnik's early attempts at storming the citadel of the World Championship met with mixed results. In 1994, he lost a Candidates quarter finals match for the PCA championship to Gata Kamsky by 1½-4½, and a few months later he lost a Candidates semi-finals match for the FIDE championship to Boris Gelfand by 3½-4½. In 1998, Kramnik was defeated by Alexey Shirov by 3½-5½ in the Candidates match held in Cazorla to determine the right to play Garry Kasparov for the Classical World Chess Championship. In 1999, Kramnik lost in the quarterfinals of the FIDE knockout championship in Las Vegas to Michael Adams by 2-4, including the 4 game rapid play-off. Although Shirov had defeated Kramnik for the right to challenge Kasparov, suitable sponsorship was not found for a Kasparov-Shirov match, and it never took place. In 2000, however, sponsorship became available for a Kasparov-Kramnik match instead. This meant that Kramnik was the first player since 1935 - when Alexander Alekhine selected Max Euwe as his challenger - to play a world championship match without qualifying. Kramnik reached the pinnacle by defeating long-time champion Kasparov in the Kasparov - Kramnik Classical World Championship Match (2000) in London by the score of 8½ to 6½ (+2 =13 -0) without losing a game, becoming the next Classical World Champion in the line that started from Wilhelm Steinitz. It was the first time since the Lasker - Capablanca World Championship Match (1921) that the defending champion had lost a match without winning a game and it was also the first time Kasparov had lost a World Championship match. Kasparov said of Kramnik that: <"He is the hardest player to beat in the world."> In 2004, Kramnik successfully defended his title as Classical World Chess Champion against challenger Peter Leko at Brissago, Switzerland, by drawing the Kramnik - Leko Classical World Championship Match (2004) in the last game. Lékó was leading the 14-game match until the final game, which Kramnik won, thus forcing a 7 - 7 draw and ensuring that Kramnik remained world champion. Because of the drawn result, the prize fund of 1 million Swiss francs was split between the two players. Kramnik refused to participate at the FIDE World Championship Tournament (2005), but indicated his willingness to play a match against the winner to unify the world championship. His next title defence in 2006, therefore, was a reunification match with the new FIDE world title holder from the 2005 tournament, Veselin Topalov. The $1 million Kramnik - Topalov World Championship Match (2006) was played in Elista, Kalmykia from September 21 to October 13 and after controversially forfeiting the fifth game, Kramnik won the rapid game playoff by 2½ -1½ after the classical games were tied 6-6, thereby becoming the first undisputed unified World Chess Champion since the 1993 split. In the following year, Kramnik lost the unified world title when he finished second to Viswanathan Anand at the Mexico City World Championship Tournament (2007). In October 2008, Kramnik exercised his entitlement to a rematch as a challenger to World Champion Anand in Bonn, Germany, but lost the Anand - Kramnik World Championship Match (2008) match by 4½ to 6½ (+1 =7 -3). Kramnik's tournament performances in 2009 (see below) raised his rating (average of July 2009 and January 2010 ratings) sufficiently to qualify him for the World Championship Candidates (2011). In the first round he beat Teimour Radjabov by the narrowest of margins*: after tieing the classical games 2-2 (+0 =4 -0), and the rapid games 2-2 (+0 =4 -0), he won the blitz playoff by 2.5-1.5 (+2 =1 -1) to move to the semi final match against Alexander Grischuk, which he lost 1.5-0.5 (=1 -1) in the blitz tiebreaker after he drew the classical games 2-2 (+0 -0 =4) and the rapid games 2-2 (+0 -0 =4), thereby eliminating him from the contest. Participating in the World Championship Candidates (2013) on the basis of his rating, Kramnik came =1st with Magnus Carlsen on 8.5/13 after both lost their last round games. As the first tiebreaker (individual score against the other player in the tournament) left them level, the second tiebreaker (greater number of wins in the tournament) relegated Kramnik to second place due to scoring four wins to Carlsen's five. Kramnik was seeded directly into the World Championship Candidates (2014), as he met the pre-condition that he participate in the World Cup (2013). During the Cup, he defeated Zambian IM Gillan Bwalya in the first round, compatriot GM Mikhail Kobalia in the second round, Ukrainian GM Alexander Areshchenko in the third round, veteran Ukrainian GM and twice former Candidate Vasyl Ivanchuk in the Round of 16 (round four), his third Ukrainian opponent in the shape of GM Anton Korobov in the quarter final (round five), one of the wildcards of the event, French GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave match in the semi final (round 6) before defeating compatriot GM Dmitry Andreikin in the final by 2.5-1.5 (+1 =3). His win also guaranteed qualification in the World Cup 2015, although he would qualify by rating alone. At the Candidates in March 2014, he placed 3rd with 7/14 behind Anand and Karjakin. He qualified by rating to play in the World Cup (2015) where he met and defeated Peruvian Deysi Estela Cori Tello and Cuban GM Lazaro Bruzon Batista in the first two rounds to advance to the third round where he lost to Dmitry Andreikin in the first set of rapid game tiebreakers, thereby bowing out of the event. Tournaments Kramnik won Chalkidiki 1992 with 7.5/11, and in 1993, he played in Linares, finishing fifth and defeating the then world number three, Vasyl Ivanchuk. Following some solid results in the interim which resulted in him winning the 1994 PCA Intel Grand Prix, major tournament triumphs were soon to follow, such as Dortmund 1995, Horgen 1995, Belgrade 1995, =1st in Dos Hermanas in 1996 and 1997, =1st in Tilburg 1997 (8/11). Dortmund became a favourite stop, as Kramnik has gone on to win nine more times in 1996, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2001, Dortmund Sparkassen (2006), Dortmund Sparkassen (2007), Dortmund Sparkassen (2009) and Dortmund Sparkassen (2011), as either equal or clear first; in the 2011 edition of the event he won by 1.5 points despite losing in the last round. In 2000, Kramnik won his first Linares tournament, completing his set of victories in all three of chess' "triple crown" events: Corus, Linares, and Dortmund. Kramnik later captured additional Linares victories in Linares (2003) (shared) and Linares (2004) (outright). He won the Tal Memorial (2007) with 6.5/9, 1.5 ahead of Shirov. Kramnik had exceptionally good results in 2009, winning once again in Dortmund and then winning the Category 21 (average ELO = 2763) Tal Memorial (2009) in Moscow with 6/9 and a TPR of 2883. At the time, the average ELO rating of the field made it the strongest tournament in history. He also participated in the London Chess Classic (2009) in December, finishing second to Magnus Carlsen. These magnificent results qualified him for the 2011 Candidates on the basis of his boosted ratings. Kramnik began 2010 at Corus Group A (2010) 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. A late loss to Anand knocked him out of first place, and Kramnik finished with 8/13, tying for second place with Shirov behind Carlsen's 8½ points. He came 2nd in the preliminary Shanghai Masters (2010) to qualify for the Grand Slam Chess Final (2010) against Carlsen and Anand, who had pre-qualified. He then won at Bilbao with +2 -0 =4 over world champion Anand, then-world number one Magnus Carlsen, and Shirov. The 2009 Tal Memorial and the Grand Slam Final at Bilbao were the most powerful tournaments (in ratings terms) ever staged. In late 2011, he easily won the 15th Unive (Crown Group) (2011) with 4.5/6 and a TPR of 2903 and finished the year with outright first at the London Chess Classic (2011) with +4 -0 =4 and a TPR of 2934, recovering ground lost following a mediocre performance in the Tal Memorial (2011) where he failed to win a game. In June 2012, he placed =4th at the category 22 Tal Memorial (2012), with 4.5/9 and in July 2012, =3rd (4th on tiebreak) at the category 19 Dortmund Sparkassen (2012) tournament. Kramnik finished 2012 with a surge, placing 2nd at the London Chess Classic (2012) behind Magnus Carlsen, scoring 6/8 (16 points in the 3-1-0 scoring system used in the event) and a TPR of 2937 to Carlsen's 2994. His final training preparation for the Candidates tournament in March at the category 21 Zurich Chess Challenge (2013), was less than completely successful in terms of results (2.5/6), drawing five and losing one to Anand, although it seemed to contribute to his game fitness at the Candidates as he placed second by the narrowest of margins, scoring equal to Carlsen who won the event and the right to challenge Anand for the World Championship. He placed =4th with 4.5/9, a point behind the winner, in a low scoring Alekhine Memorial (2013) and then had one of his worse ever results at the Tal Memorial (2013), coming last with 3/9 (+0 -3 =6). However, he returned to form in the Dortmund Sparkassen (2013), placing outright second behind Adams, scoring 6.5/9, jointly dominating the category 19 field to the extent that no other player scored better than 50%. In November 2014, Kramnik competed at the category 20 Petrosian Memorial (2014), and was outright second behind Alexander Grischuk with 4.5/7, signalling a mild return to form after a slump that saw him exit the world's top 10 for the first time since he entered the top 10 in January 1993. There followed 2nd at the powerful Qatar Masters (2014), with 7/9, and =1st at the London Chess Classic (2014). 2015 saw Kramnik starting his competitive year by placing outright 3rd behind the winner Anand and runner-up Hikaru Nakamura, ahead of Sergey Karjakin, Levon Aronian and Fabiano Caruana respectively, in the standard section of the RR category 22 Zurich Chess Challenge (2015). He won the final section of the Zurich event, namely the Zurich Chess Challenge (Rapid) (2015), but the added points were insufficient to give him the overall lead and he finished with 3rd prize behind Nakamura and Anand respectively. A relatively poor performance at the Gashimov Memorial (2015) where he scored only 4/9 was followed by a solid performance at the Russian Premier League 2015 (see below) and a below average 3.5/7 for fourth place at the annual Dortmund Sparkassen (2015). He saw out the year with equal third, scoring 6.5/9 at the powerful Qatar Masters (2015), half a point behind the joint leaders Magnus Carlsen and the rising Chinese star Yangyi Yu. Kramnik started 2016 with equal third on 5/9 at the Norway Chess (2016) behind Carlsen and Aronian respectively after also coming third in the preliminary Norway Chess (Blitz) (2016) used to determine the draw. Several months later in July he placed =2nd (with 4/7) behind Vachier-Lagrave at Dortmund Sparkassen (2016). Kramnik's year in standard time chess finished with a reasonably efficacious equal third at the London Chess Classic (2016), a point behind the winner Wesley So. In April 2017, Kramnik was second on tiebreak ahead of co-runners up Wesley So and Veselin Topalov at the category 21 Gashimov Memorial (2017), scoring 5/9, half a point behind the winner Shakhriyar Mamedyarov. Two months later he again placed equal second, this time at the category 22 Norway Chess (2017), scoring 5/9 alongside Hikaru Nakamura, a point behind the winner Levon Aronian. Team Events <Olympiads> Kramnik has won three team and and individual gold medals at the Olympiads as well as two team silvers. He played in the gold medal winning Russian teams in the Manila 1992, Moscow 1994 and Yerevan 1996 Olympiads, his first gold medal being awarded to him as an untitled 16 year old in 1992 when he scored eight wins, one draw, and no losses to record a remarkable TPR of 2958. In 1994, he came fifth on the second board with 8/11 and a 2727 TPR. In 1996, he scored a relatively meagre 4.5/9 on the second board. He did not participate in any more Olympiads until Turin Olympiad (2006) in Turin, when he again won a gold medal with overall best performance on the top board with 6.5/9 (2847 TPR). In the Dresden Olympiad (2008) in Dresden, he scored 5/9 on top board and a 2735 TPR. Kramnik played board one for the silver medal winning Russian team in the Khanty-Mansiysk Olympiad (2010) in Khanty-Mansiysk, coming fifth with a scored of 5.5/9, winning 2 and drawing 7 with a TPR of 2794. At the Istanbul Olympiad (2012) held in Istanbul, he again played top board scoring 5/9 and coming 7th on that board, leading his team to another silver medal. At the Tromso Olympiad (2014), he again played board 1 for Russia. He played board two for Russia in the Baku Olympiad (2016), scoring individual gold for his board, and team bronze with his countrymen. <National Team Events> In 1991, 2490-rated FM Kramnik represented Russia on board 2 at the World U26 Championship played at Maringá; with a perfect score of 6/6 he helped Russia to win gold, and won individual gold for his performance. He played in the European Team Championships on one occasion, in 1992, when the then FM was rated 2590. Again representing Russia, this time on board 3, he helped his team to win gold with a 6/7 effort, and won individual gold for board 3 as well as a gold medal for the best rating performance at the event, that being a 2863 performance, ahead of Kasparov's 2809 performance that won rating silver. That same year (1992), he also played on the USSR team against the Rest of the World. He played for Russia twice in the World Team Championship, in 1993 and 2013. On the first occasion, he lead his country to a bronze medal, and on the second occasion - at the World Team Championship (2013) - to a gold medal. <European Club Cup> Kramnik participated in the European Club Cup between 1995 and 1999 inclusive, in 2005 and again in 2015 and 2016. He started off playing board one with SV Empor Berlin in 1992 and 1993, moved on to Sberbank-Tatarstan Kazan in 1994 where he helped the club to bronze, then played board one with the powerful Agrouniverzal Zemun team in 1998 and 1999, winning team silver in 1999. Since then, he played for NAO Paris in 2005, winning team bronze and for the Siberia Novosibirsk team in the European Club Cup (2015) and European Club Cup (2016) winning team gold in 2015 as well as an individual gold for board 1. At the Russian Team Championship (2015), Kramnik played board 1 for Siberia Novosibirsk, winning gold for that board; his effort also helped his team to win gold. He repeated his individual effort in the Russian Team Championship (2016), this time helping his team to a bronze medal in the double round robin 5-team contest. Matches In 2004, he won a simul against the German National Team 2½:1½. In October 2002, Kramnik played an eight game match against Deep Fritz (Computer) in the Brains in Bahrain (2002) match, drawing 4-4 after leading 3-1. In 2006 the German organization Universal Event Promotion (UEP) staged a return match of six games between Kramnik and Deep Fritz in Bonn, which Kramnik lost, +0 -2 =4. In April 2012, Kramnik and Levon Aronian played, as part of their preparation for the 2012 Candidates Tournament, a six-game training match in Zurich. The Kramnik - Aronian (2012) match was drawn 3-3 (+1 -1 =4). From late November to early December 2016, he played a rapid and blitz match against Yifan Hou at the Kings Tournament in Romania, winning both by significant margins, the rapid by 4.5-0.5 and the latter by 6/9 (+5 -3 =2). Rapids Kramnik has been an excellent and consistent performer at rapid and blindfold play. He won or shared the overall lead at Amber in 1996 (outright overall 1st), 1998 (=1st with Shirov with 15/22), 1999 Monaco (14½/22), 2001 (=1st with Topalov with 15/22), 2004 (=1st with Morozevich with 14.5/22), and 2007 (outright overall first with 15½/22). He also won the 2001 rapid play match against Lékó by 7-5, drew the 2001 rapid play Botvinnik Memorial match with Kasparov 3:3 and the 2001 rapid play match against Anand 5:5, lost the 2002 Match Advanced Chess Kramnik vs. Anand (Leon) 3½:2½, was runner up to Anand in the Cap D'Agde FRA (2003), won the 2009 Zurich Champions Rapid (2009) with 5/7 and shared 1st in the 2010 President's Cup in Baku with 5/7. In tandem with the London Classic 2014, Kramnik came =1st in the blitz event and =3rd in the rapid play open. Kramnik came in equal 5th with 10/15 in the World Rapid Championship (2015), 1.5 points behind the winner Carlsen, and half a point behind the joint runners up Nepomniachtchi, Radjabov and Leinier Dominguez Perez. He followed up the next day with equal second alongside Vachier-Lagrave scoring 15/21, half a point behind the outright winner Alexander Grischuk at the World Blitz Championship (2015). Ratings Kramnik entered the top 100 in January 1992 and has remained there since that time. He rose rapidly in the rankings such that a year later in January 1993, he entered the top 10 where he has been ensconced since, apart from a few months in 2014. Yet during that time he made it to world #1 in only two rating periods. In January 1996, Kramnik became the world top rated player. Although he had the same FIDE rating as Kasparov (2775), He became number one by having played more games during the rating period in question. He 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. Ironically, 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. In July 1993 soon after his 18th birthday, he crossed 2700 for the first time and has remained in the 2700+ rating ever since. In April 2001, he became the second of only eight chess players to have reached a rating of 2800 (the first being Kasparov, followed by Anand, Topalov, Carlsen, Aronian, Caruana and Grischuk). Kramnik's highest standard rating to date is 2811 achieved in May 2013 when he was ranked #3 in the world. Other In 1995, Kramnik served as a second for Kasparov during the latter's successful defence of his Classical World Chess Championship against Anand, and in an ironic counter point in 2010 he served as a second for Anand during the World Champion's successful defence against Topalov. Kramnik has a form of arthritis called ankylosing spondylitis. In January 2006, Kramnik announced that he would miss the Corus Group A (2006) to seek treatment for this condition. He returned from treatment in June 2006, playing in the 37th Chess Olympiad, winning gold by top scoring on the top board. Kramnik's performance in winning the Classical World Championship in 2000 won him the Chess Oscar for 2000, while his 2006 victory in the reunification match earned him the Chess Oscar for 2006. On 30 December 2006 he married French journalist Marie-Laure Germon and they have a daughter, Daria, who was born 28 December 2008, and a son, Vadim, born 28 January 2013. Sources and references Website: http://www.kramnik.com/; Biography: http://www.kramnik.com/eng/biograph...; Extended and candid interview with Kramnik by Vladislav Tkachiev in August 2011: http://whychess.org/node/1605; Live rating: http://www.2700chess.com/; * http://chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp...; Wikipedia article: Kramnik Last updated: 2023-11-23 11:45:25

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page 1 of 130; games 1-25 of 3,249  Game   Result Moves Year Event/Locale Opening 1. Kramnik vs Serdyukov 1-0 31 1984 Belorechensk B78 Sicilian, Dragon, Yugoslav Attack, 10.castle long 2. A Oganyan vs Kramnik 0-1 31 1984 Belorechensk B89 Sicilian 3. Remezov vs Kramnik   0-1 52 1985 Krasnodar B45 Sicilian, Taimanov 4. Kramnik vs Zhukov 1-0 38 1986 Belorechensk B43 Sicilian, Kan, 5.Nc3 5. Zaitsev vs Kramnik 0-1 49 1986 Team Tournament B83 Sicilian 6. Kramnik vs Otsarev 1-0 18 1987 Baku Training B21 Sicilian, 2.f4 and 2.d4 7. Shilov vs Kramnik 0-1 37 1987 USSR Boys' Championship B33 Sicilian 8. Kramnik vs A Chjumachenko 1-0 32 1987 Gelendzhik B21 Sicilian, 2.f4 and 2.d4 9. Kramnik vs Mayorov 1-0 34 1987 Gelendzhik C12 French, McCutcheon 10. I Odesskij vs Kramnik 0-1 25 1987 URS-chT U14 A52 Budapest Gambit 11. Yakubovsky vs Kramnik   0-1 51 1987 URS-chT U14 B23 Sicilian, Closed 12. Yakovich vs Kramnik 1-0 42 1988 URS B45 Sicilian, Taimanov 13. Kramnik vs Danislian ½-½ 60 1988 URS-chT U18 B15 Caro-Kann 14. M Golubev vs Kramnik 0-1 38 1988 URS-chT U18 B33 Sicilian 15. Kramnik vs Yakovich ½-½ 14 1989 Chigorin Memorial-B B33 Sicilian 16. Kramnik vs R Shcherbakov ½-½ 35 1989 Chigorin Memorial-B B58 Sicilian 17. A V Filipenko vs Kramnik 0-1 40 1989 Chigorin Memorial-B B00 Uncommon King's Pawn Opening 18. Kramnik vs A Panchenko ½-½ 60 1989 Chigorin Memorial-B B58 Sicilian 19. Khenkin vs Kramnik ½-½ 17 1989 Chigorin Memorial-B D39 Queen's Gambit Declined, Ragozin, Vienna Variation 20. J Ivanov vs Kramnik ½-½ 12 1989 Chigorin Memorial-B A85 Dutch, with c4 & Nc3 21. Kramnik vs B Podlesnik 1-0 37 1989 Chigorin Memorial-B B33 Sicilian 22. M Sorokin vs Kramnik ½-½ 52 1989 Chigorin Memorial-B A81 Dutch 23. G Kallai vs Kramnik ½-½ 22 1989 Chigorin Memorial-B A81 Dutch 24. Kramnik vs G Tunik 0-1 38 1989 Chigorin Memorial-B B46 Sicilian, Taimanov Variation 25. Kramnik vs A Grosar ½-½ 47 1989 Chigorin Memorial-B B58 Sicilian  page 1 of 130; games 1-25 of 3,249

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< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 9 OF 43 ·  Later Kibitzing> Feb-01-19    Count Wedgemore: <parmetd: Actually Kramnik did not finish second. He finished tied to first. You are now the one rewriting history.> Kramnik did indeed finish second, ON THE SECOND TIEBREAK. They were tied for first, ON THE FIRST TIEBREAK. I find it strange that a FIDE Arbiter can write such nonsense. Oh well. Feb-01-19    Caissanist: <Olavi> thanks for the correction. Curiously, his 1996 #1 rating was also a tie, this time with Kasparov. <frogbert> Maybe this is generational, but "denied" can simply mean "he did well enough to earn it but didn't get it for whatever reason." You could say that Kramnik was "denied" in 2013 the same way that, say, Keres was "denied" in 1959, when he scored well enough to win prior cycles but, like Kramnik, found himself suddenly eclipsed by a phenomenal young talent. Feb-01-19    parmetd: I am not sure why you are attacking my FA status when you are unable to understand what a tiebreaker is. For a tiebreaker to even be applied in yhe first place, two players have to finish in the exact same place. While money is never split for sharing th SAME place (except in the rare occasion that there was a small extra pot for a tiebreaker game), indivisible things like title, trophy or right to progress to a further event have to be because only one person can take them. Hence they split the prize money because they finished =1st but Magnus won the applied tiebreaker for the additional prize to challenge Vishy (the point of the tournament). I certainly didn't mean to start an argument. I don't doubt Magnus would have won any chess tiebreaker anyways, I merely implied it would have been an extremely enjoyable watching for the spectators. Feb-01-19    zanzibar: <<parmetd> ... While money is never split for sharing [the] SAME place ...> I'm having trouble understanding what exactly you mean here, unless of course you meant to say "always" instead of "never". PS- Can I ask you to communicate the occasional wish to FIDE authorities? In particular, I'd like FIDE to not recycle FIDE id's when a player becomes deceased, nor to immediately remove the player's FIDE card from the online db. (I have a few other requests - but those are at the top of the list) . Feb-01-19    parmetd: Yeah brain fart. Haha. Money is always split. Feb-02-19    shach motov: <parmetd: Kramnik is easily above Garry. Not only did he beat him, no other GM in history has influenced opening history as much as Kramnik has> It's ok to be a fanboy but it's preferable to have some contact with reality as well. Kasparov is considered THE GREATEST chess player ever by a huge number of unbiased chess players, chess history experts, enthusiasts, etc. The rest consider him in the top 3 greatest ever. While Kramnik is not even in the top ten by the opinion of the most. Now I say this as someone who completely opposes and disagrees with some of Kasparov's political opinions. While having nothing personal against Kramnik... Regarding their match. First and foremost, it was ONE relatively short match so no definite conclusions can be made from it regarding their relative place in chess history. Second, lets not forget that Kramnik has benefited immensely from many years of learning from Kasparov; Kramnik learned from Kasparov more than any other player prior to Carlsen. He was GK'S student at the Botvinik school; and, more significantly, Kramnik learned a huge deal when he was on GK's team. The idea that Krmanik influenced theory more than anybody else is also silly. Apparently you never heard of Nimzovich, Reti, Botvinik, Kasparov, etc... - - - - Historically and in terms of life time achievements, Kramnik does not even come close to Kasparov. Kasparov was the #1 rated player for 20 years -- Kramnik only shared that distinction with another player for one week or so (i forget exactly, maybe a few days longer) Kasaprov has the greatest tournament record in history (only Lasker, Karpov come close) --- Kramnik, not even close. Kasparov dominated the world of chess for 20 years --- Kramnik has never dominated the world of chess. Kasparov was the youngest world champ ---- Kramnik not even close. Etc. So, in conclusion, all of us have the right to be fans or even fanboys or girls; but we should also respect facts and reality. Otherwise, all you do is add trolling to this site, which it hardly need more of... Feb-02-19    PhilFeeley: <MissScarlett: <One chap kept her waiting for a couple of minutes and then dismissed her with a wave of his hand, lord to peasant.> Name names, you schmuck.> I guess we're still waiting. While we are, I'll name some names: At the Rapid and Blitz championships here in Riyadh in 2017, a few friends of mine managed to get to the venue, and into an area where they could see the players (neither was an easy feat here). One friend (my sparring partner) tried to get photos of them. He managed to get pictures of himself with Vishy Anand and MVL. The one he tried to get, but who wouldn't give the time of day to anybody: Magnus Carlsen. He just hurried off to the players' area after each round. Perhaps it's a concentration thing. I enjoy Magnus as a player and like his games, but his people skills (interaction with fans, etc.) seem to be sub-par. Certainly not of the gentlemanly quality of Kramnik or Anand. I hope he mellows. Feb-02-19    fabelhaft: <parmetd: Kramnik is easily above Garry. Not only did he beat him> etc Kasparov was #1 for 20 years, to be easily above him is not easy. Kramnik shared 1st on two rating lists, but I wouldn’t rank him ahead of Kasparov any more than I would rank Shirov ahead of Kramnik for beating him in one event. Maybe Kramnik belongs somewhere after a top ten consisting of Kasparov, Lasker, Karpov, Carlsen, Alekhine, Capablanca, Botvinnik, Steinitz, Anand and Fischer in some order. They were all clear #1 for parts or long periods of their careers. Then I’d have Kramnik together with Smyslov, Tal. Petrosian and Spassky in some order at 11-15. Feb-02-19    parmetd: I would put Carlsen at one for sure. 2 is hard to figure out. Maybe Fischer or Capablanca. 4 Kramnik/Tal 6. Probably Kasparov or Lasker. 8. Is likely Karpov/Anand. 10. Probably Alekhine. Always fun but also always subjective opinions. But not having Kramnik in the top ten is pretty laughable and ignorant. Putting Reti above Kramnik is hilarious. Feb-02-19    fabelhaft: <not having Kramnik in the top ten is pretty laughable and ignorant> While not having Steinitz and Botvinnik in the top ten is the opposite, I presume :-) The reasons I rank them ahead of Kramnik are these: Steinitz won every match he played for over 30 years, won several title matches against the strongest opponents available, and had the biggest difference to #2 of any player since according to Chessmetrics. He scored +7-0=0 in a match gainst then #2 Blackburne, and won 25 games in a row against top opposition of his day. Botvinnik lost the World Championship title for good first when he was past 50, and had his peak long before he even played his first title match. His results in the USSR Championships 1944-45 really stand out, and of course the World Championship 1948. Feb-02-19    HeMateMe: It's most relevant to rank players by how strong they were against their peers. Karpov was probably as dominant against his generation, say 1974-84 as Kasparov was against his, later generation. I put those two on top of the pedestal, no one else is even close. Lasker was great, but not enough tournaments were played in his era, and he had big gaps of inactivity. Feb-02-19    parmetd: Like I said, subjective and fun! To each their own. It depends how one measures it but at the end of the day comparing across time is hard. Matches were far less frequent in Steinitz' day. In addition, today openings is more important, matches are more frequent. Kramnik has set the opening theory and trend of the last 20 years. Botvinnik was fed more resources than any other player in history to that point. There is a great question if Bronstein was forced to throw his match to him. And of course, we always end up with the fact that the new WC has the benefit of seeing and learning from everything that the previous WC did. Feb-02-19    keypusher: <parmetd > Steinitz won 21 matches between 1862 and 1892 against all the leading masters in the world. < Botvinnik was fed more resources than any other player in history to that point. > Botvinnik had one advantage over his most of his predecessors — he could live comfortably. He shares that advantage with Morphy, Capablanca, every Soviet grandmaster and all top players since Fischer. Resources? Botvinnik never had the teams that Karpov and Kasparov had. <There is a great question if Bronstein was forced to throw his match to him. > The answer is No. Bronstein, fabulist and slanderer that he was, never claimed it and there isn’t a shred of independent evidence for it. Feb-02-19    Qindarka: It’s strange how much Steinitz gets underrated. Of course his standard of play wasn’t objectively as high as modern World Champions but so is that the case with Morphy, Lasker, Casablanca and Alekhine and they regularly get placed on ‘greatest of’ lists. Feb-02-19    fabelhaft: <Matches were far less frequent in Steinitz' day> The list below doesn’t include the matches that are not confirmed to have been formal matches, or all the playoff matches he played. Regardless, the claim that matches were far less frequent in Steinitz’ day is rather surprising. 1860 Eduard Jenay Drew Vienna 2/4 2 : 2 1860 Lang Won Vienna 3/3 +3−0=0 1862 Serafino Dubois Won London 5½/9 +5−3=1 1862–63 Joseph Henry Blackburne Won London 8/10 +7−1=2 1863 Frederic Deacon Won London 5½/7 +5−1=1 1863 Augustus Mongredien Won London 7/7 +7−0=0 1863–64 Valentine Green Won London 8/9 +7−0=2 1866 Adolf Anderssen Won London 8/14 +8−6=0 1866 Henry Edward Bird Won London 9½/17 +7−5=5 1867 George Brunton Fraser Won Dundee 4/6 +3−1=2 1870 Blackburne Won London 1½/2 +1−0=1 1872 Johannes Zukertort Won London 9/12 +7−1=4 1876 Blackburne Won London 7/7 +7−0=0 1882 Dion Martinez Won Philadelphia 7/7 +7−0=0 1882 Alexander Sellman Won Baltimore 3½/5 +2−0=3 1883 George Henry Mackenzie Won New York 4/6 +3−1=2 1883 Martinez Won Philadelphia 4½/7 +3−1=3 1883 Celso Golmayo Zúpide Won Havana 9/11 9 : 2 1883 Martinez Won Philadelphia 10/11 10 : 1 1885 Alexander Sellman Won Baltimore 3/3 +3−0=0 1886 Zukertort Won New York, St.Louis and New Orleans 12½/20 +10−5=5 World Chess Championship 1886 1888 Alberto Ponce Won Havana 4/5 4 : 1 1888 Andrés Vásquez Won Havana 5/5 +5−0=0 1888 Golmayo Won Havana 5/5 +5−0=0 1889 Vicente Carvajal Won Havana 4/5 4 : 1 1889 Mikhail Chigorin Won Havana 10½/17 +10−6=1 World Chess Championship 1889 1890–91 Isidor Gunsberg Won New York 10½/19 +6−4=9 World Chess Championship 1891 match. 1892 Chigorin Won Havana 12½/23 +10−8=5 World Chess Championship 1892 match. 1894 Emanuel Lasker Lost New York, Philadelphia and Montreal 7/19 +5−10=4 World Chess Championship 1894 match 1896 Emanuel Schiffers Won Rostov-on-Don 6½/11 +6−4=1 1896–97 Lasker Lost Moscow 4½/17 +2−10=5 World Chess Championship 1897 match. I’d rather say matches are less frequent nowadays. For example Carlsen played a short Candidates match against Aronian in 2007 but in the dozen years since then he has not played a single classical match apart from the title matches against Anand, Karjakin and Caruana. Feb-02-19    zanzibar: RE: Steinitz Here's a recap: http://www.edochess.ca/players/p34.... . Feb-02-19    Sally Simpson: *** "It’s strange how much Steinitz gets underrated." It is even stranger to see how much Kramnik is being overrated. " Kramnik has set the opening theory and trend of the last 20 years." EH? Trying, and failing, to find a Kramnik opening and the one variation named after him is 3.c4 in the Sicilian (first played by Alekhine in 1927) which Kramnik played once...in a blitz game. Kramnik vs Kasparov, 1994 Sorry to see him retire and all that but think we need a chill pill. He never dominated his era like Steinitz, Alekhine, Karpov or Kasparov and the way Carlsen is doing now. He has had more than his share of 'luck'. He never qualified to play Kasparov but was invited into the final ahead of Shirov who actually beat him. Shirov - Kramnik WCC Candidates Match (1998) Kramnik used an antiquated Botvinnik rule to get his match v Anand (and lost) and was handed a freebie into the 2018 candidates....and I've not even mentioned the mate in one v Fritz (OOPS). Great player, held back by health issues and overshadowed by Anand and Carlsen, still has a lot to offer the game but making the right choice in putting the family and the kids first (you only get one shot at that.) Just hoping he does not do a Gary and try his hand at politics. (though if he did I suspect he would be rather better at it.) *** Feb-02-19    parmetd: Re: I wasn't referring specifically to just Steinitz as so much that time period. Nevertheless I stand corrected re Steinitz specifically. Still my overall point is still being missed that there are many variations across time that makes comparisons hard, subjective and at best fun. Feb-02-19    parmetd: <keypusher> First I have ever heard of Bronstein being referred to as anything other than upright... "slanderer" is harsh. In the sorcerrer's apprentice, Bronstein dodges the question. Nevertheless, numerous big newspaper mention the possibility in his obituary (https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ob...) and numerous big soviet defectors like Gulko and Korchnoi have opined that it was thrown. This page is probably not the discussion for such side tangents but your outright dismissal is quite odd. Feb-03-19    Count Wedgemore: <parmetd: This page is probably not the discussion for such side tangents but your outright dismissal is quite odd.> Not odd at all. There is no evidence, only endless speculation, without any shred of evidence whatsoever. I believed in this myth also, for many years. Then I discovered that it's nothing but a myth, with ZERO evidence. Feb-03-19    Sally Simpson: *** Hi Parmetd, Bronstein, a truly great player who loved the game but appears to have hated his country and had a few grudges he got off his chest when the wall came down. I was reading this 2003 rare interview not so long ago. He had a few choice things to say. " Kasparov has once said he is generations apart from me, so he did not want to play me. What generations? I’m still alive and I understand a lot about the game. If they had invited me I would have gone and played. But I don’t have a rating! Therefore, I don’t exist anymore as a chess player." and Bronstein was not to impressed with the way chess was going. " The fact that a 12-year old boy can become a Grandmaster, is there a better proof for my words? He has acquired some minimal knowledge; for example, he knows that if he puts his knight in the center, his opponent will be left with tied hands – the rest is just a matter of habit." Full interview here, it's pretty tasty: https://www.chess.com/blog/RoaringP... *** Feb-03-19    HeMateMe: Bronstein's father was imprisoned by the Reds and spent years in the gulag. He came back his health ruined. The acid coming out of any GM who was a Ukrainian or in the soviet satellite eastern European countries is understandable. For some players, Their own individuality was subjugated to competing for the USSR. The iron curtain meant fewer tournaments and fewer chances to play in the west for better currency to shop in the dollar stores. An angry interview by an older man of that era encompasses many things. Feb-03-19    keypusher: < · parmetd: <keypusher> First I have ever heard of Bronstein being referred to as anything other than upright...> You should get out more. On the topic of resources: <"In the winter of 1951 the assembly of the russian team [not the soviet team!] took place in some holiday house of the oil industry. There Bronstein's team had already gathered to prepare for the match against Botvinnik. I remember how much Isaac Boleslavsky, Alexander Konstantinopolsky, Semyon Abramovich Furman and Lev Aronin worked. There was even a fifth trainer but I don't remember whom it was. What a difference to Botvinnik's team which consisted only of Ragozin!”> Feb-03-19    Qindarka: Wasn't Flohr with Botvinnik for the 1951 match as well? But your point still stands. I too find Bronstein to be a bit annoying. Makes a lot of vague, unsubstantiated comments. And didn't he admit that Boleslavsky drew his games deliberately to allow him to catch up in the 1950 Candidates? Feb-03-19    Muttley101: <Keypusher <There is a great question if Bronstein was forced to throw his match to him. > The answer is No. Bronstein, fabulist and slanderer that he was, never claimed it and there isn’t a shred of independent evidence for it.> When consoling Fischer over Soviet collusion against him, Bronstein said "They forced me to lose a world championship match!" Likely no-one will ever know the truth about it, but to say there isn't a shred of evidence simply shows you might be unaware of evidence and/or confirmation bias. Jump to page #   (enter # from 1 to 43) search thread:    < Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 9 OF 43 ·  Later Kibitzing>

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