CHESS#1339
Vladimir Borisovich Kramnik’s retirement may not be “pucca”. The Russian Chess Federation, and his many friends, will try and persuade him to change his mind. At 43, the former world champion is still a powerhouse, ranked #14 despite terrible form at the Tata Steel.
Kramnik has had bursts of illhealth since the early 2000s. Once among the world’s most solid players, he’s been slap-dash and over-optimistic in the last two years. If his motivation is truly gone, as he says, it may be a good time to quit. He says he wants to work with children now and he might join forces with Judit Polgar.
Big Vlad (he’s nearly 2 metres tall) burst onto the scene as a 17-yearold. He remains the youngest player to represent Russia in an Olympiad. His selection was considered “nepotism” at the time. “Mr Soviet Chess”, the legendary Mikhail Botvinnik, and Botvinnik’s best-known pupil, Garry Kasparov, both insisted Kramnik should play the 1992 Malta Olympiad. Russia took gold, and Kramnik won individual gold as First Reserve to shut down the critics.
From then, to world no 1 and world champion, was a long, complex journey. In the 1990s, Kramnik had many setbacks. The world title was split and he couldn’t make it through either Candidates. He did not qualify for a match against Kasparov — he lost the qualifier to Alexey Shirov.
But he got a title match anyhow and he won. It helped that he had seconded Kasparov for several years. He produced a most convincing performance, winning with impeccable preparation and super technique. Then he came from behind to retain his title against Peter Leko in 2004 and in 2006, he won the ill-tempered Toiletgate match against Veselin Topalov.
Viswanathan Anand played out of his skin to wrest the title from Kramnik in 2007 in another fantastic match. Kramnik nearly got another crack at the title in 2013, when he tied with Magnus Carlsen in the London Candidates. But he had the worst tiebreak. Since then, his play has been spotty with great wins alternating with massive blunders.
The Gibraltar Open was won by Vlad Artemiev. The 20-year-old Russian scored 8.5 from 10 rounds. The 19-year-old Murali Karthikeyan (8) did well to take second place with a last-round clutch win against Maxime Vachier Lagrave (7). Lalith Babu (7) shared third-eighth and gained 27 Elo points. D Gukesh and Raunak Sadhwani also gained Elo.
The Diagram, Black to Play (White: Aronian Vs Black: Kramnik, Candidates 2018) was one of the most profound games of last year. How does black continue? He played 19.—Rxg5! 20. hxg5 f4 21. Qd1 Rd8 22. Qc1 fxg3 23. Na3 Rd3 24. Rd1 Bd5!! 25. f3 gxf3 26. ed5 Qe2 27. Re1 g2+ (0-1). Now 28. Kh2 g1=Q+ 29. Kxg1 f2+ finishes.