61 Facts About Vladimir Kramnik

Vladimir Borisovich Kramnik is a Russian chess grandmaster.

Vladimir Kramnik was the Classical World Chess Champion from 2000 to 2006, and the undisputed World Chess Champion from 2006 to 2007.

Vladimir Kramnik has won three team gold medals and three individual medals at Chess Olympiads.

In 2000, Kramnik defeated Garry Kasparov and became the Classical World Chess Champion.

Vladimir Kramnik defended his title in 2004 against Peter Leko, and defeated the reigning FIDE World Champion Veselin Topalov in a unification match in 2006.

In 2007, Vladimir Kramnik lost the title to Viswanathan Anand, who won the World Chess Championship 2007 tournament ahead of Vladimir Kramnik.

Vladimir Kramnik challenged Anand at the World Chess Championship 2008 to regain his title, but lost.

Vladimir Kramnik publicly announced his retirement as a professional chess player in January 2019.

Vladimir Kramnik stated he intends to focus on projects relating to chess for children and education.

Vladimir Kramnik was born in the town of Tuapse, on the shores of the Black Sea.

Vladimir Kramnik's mother Irina Fedorovna is Ukrainian and is a music teacher, his biological father Boris Sokolov is Russian painter and sculptor.

Vladimir Kramnik scored eight wins, one draw, and no losses, a performance of 2958, which won a gold medal for best rating performance.

Vladimir Kramnik finished fifth, beating the then world number three, Vasyl Ivanchuk, along the way.

Vladimir Kramnik 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, Vladimir Kramnik served as a second for Kasparov in the Classical World Chess Championship 1995 match against challenger Viswanathan Anand.

In January 1996, Vladimir Kramnik became the world number-one rated player; although having the same FIDE rating as Kasparov, Vladimir Kramnik became number one by having played more games during the rating period in question.

Vladimir Kramnik continued to produce good results, including winning at Dortmund ten times from 1995 to 2011.

Vladimir Kramnik is the second of only fifteen chess players to have reached a rating of 2800.

In 2000, Vladimir Kramnik played a 16-game match against Garry Kasparov in London, for the Classical Chess World Championship.

Vladimir Kramnik began the match as underdog, but his adoption of the Berlin Defence to Kasparov's Ruy Lopez opening was very effective.

Vladimir Kramnik's performance won him the Chess Oscar for 2000; this was the first time he had received the award.

In October 2002, Vladimir Kramnik competed in Brains in Bahrain, an eight-game match against the chess computer Deep Fritz in Bahrain.

However, in game five, Vladimir Kramnik made what was described as the worst blunder of his career, losing a knight in a position which was probably drawn.

Vladimir Kramnik resigned game six after making a speculative sacrifice, although subsequent analysis showed that he had drawing chances in the final position.

In February 2004 Vladimir Kramnik won the Tournament of Linares outright for the first time, finishing undefeated with a +2 score, ahead of Garry Kasparov, the world's highest-rated player at the time.

From 25 September 2004 until 18 October 2004, Vladimir Kramnik retained his title as Classical World Chess Champion against challenger Peter Leko at Brissago, Switzerland, by barely drawing the match in the last game.

When Vladimir Kramnik defeated Kasparov and inherited Kasparov's title, he inherited some controversies.

At FIDE World Chess Championship 2005, Vladimir Kramnik refused to participate, but indicated his willingness to play a match against the winner to unify the world championship.

Vladimir Kramnik refused to play the fifth game unless the original conditions agreed for the match were adhered to.

Vladimir Kramnik stated that the appeals committee was biased and demanded that it be replaced.

Vladimir Kramnik's victory helped him win the Chess Oscar for 2006, the second of his career.

When Vladimir Kramnik won the 2006 unification match, he won Topalov's berth in the 2007 World Championship as the incumbent FIDE champion.

Vladimir Kramnik fell victim to Anand's superior preparation, and lost three of the first six games.

Vladimir 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.

In May 2010 it was revealed that Vladimir Kramnik had aided Viswanathan Anand in preparation for the World Chess Championship 2010 against challenger Veselin Topalov.

Shortly after qualifying for the last stage of the Grand Slam, Vladimir Kramnik played on board one for the Russian team in the 2010 Olympiad.

In Wijk aan Zee Vladimir Kramnik shared fifth with Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, and in the Candidates he was eliminated by Alexander Grischuk.

Vladimir Kramnik won Dortmund for the tenth time, with Le Quang Liem in second place, and shared third behind Peter Svidler and Alexander Morozevich in the Russian Superfinal.

Vladimir Kramnik won the third London Chess Classic with four wins and four draws, and a rating performance over 2900 Elo.

Vladimir Kramnik finished second in the London Chess Classic behind Carlsen.

Vladimir Kramnik played in the 2013 Candidates Tournament, which took place in London, from 15 March to 1 April.

Vladimir Kramnik finished equal third on 7 out of 14, and took third place on tie breaks.

Vladimir Kramnik did not succeed in defending his title in the Chess World Cup.

Vladimir Kramnik narrowly missed out on qualifying by rating for the Candidates Tournament 2016.

Vladimir Kramnik was a half-point behind the winner Alexander Grischuk and lost second place on tiebreak to Maxime Vachier-Lagrave.

Vladimir Kramnik participated in three of the four events of the Grand Chess Tour : 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.

Vladimir Kramnik was still a 2800+ player for most of 2017 and therefore still competing at the highest levels.

Vladimir Kramnik finished second in the Gashimov Memorial tournament behind Shakriyar Mamedyarov, third in Norway Chess behind Nakamura and Aronian.

Vladimir Kramnik was knocked out by Vasyl Ivanchuk in the World Cup of 2017 in the third round.

Vladimir Kramnik seemed set to again narrowly miss qualifying for the Candidates on rating, but in late 2017 he was awarded the wild-card entry to the Candidates Tournament 2018.

Vladimir Kramnik started the Candidates tournament well, including a brilliant win with black against Levon Aronian in Round 3.

Vladimir Kramnik stated that he intends to focus on chess for children and education.

Vladimir Kramnik received 500,000 Euros for playing and would have received twice as much had he won the match.

The second game was won by Deep Fritz, due to a mistake by Vladimir Kramnik, who failed to defend against a threatened mate-in-one.

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

Vladimir Kramnik has been diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis, an uncommon form of arthritis.

In January 2006, Vladimir Kramnik announced that he would skip the Corus Chess Tournament in Wijk aan Zee to seek out treatment for his arthritis.

Vladimir Kramnik returned from treatment in June 2006, playing in the 37th Chess Olympiad.

Vladimir Kramnik scored a +4 result, achieving the highest rating performance of the 1307 participating players.

Vladimir Kramnik is one of the toughest opponents to defeat, losing only one game in over one hundred games leading up to his match with Kasparov, including eighty consecutive games without a loss.

Vladimir Kramnik was the world's leading exponent of the Petrov's Defence for much of his career and he revived the Catalan Opening.