Vladmir Kramnik: "I have lent Anand the crown"

The former world champion Vladimir Kramnik is currently in Moscow, preparing for a series of tournaments in November and December, namely the Tal Memorial, then the World Blitz Championship, and finally, a two-game mini-match of “advanced chess” against Anand himself. Before leaving for Russia, he gave an exclusive interview to the French correspondent of the Russian newspaper Izvestia, Yuri Kovalenko. This contained a number of interesting comments.

Asked about his reaction to losing his title after seven years, Kramnik commented: “OK, on paper Anand may be world champion. But from my point of view, there is a difference in significance between a title won in a match, and in a tournament. For me, the forthcoming match with Anand is more important. If I lose that, I will accept completely the fact that I have lost the title, but right now, I have no such feelings. At present, I take the view that I have just lent Anand the title temporarily”.


The World Clay Champion?

When it was put to him that Anand was surely the strongest player in Mexico, Kramnik replied that the situation is like tennis: “Federer is better than Nadal, but cannot compete with him on clay. Everyone has their strong side. Mine is match-play, whereas Anand’s is tournaments. He is very even and stable, and can draw with the top players and beat those lower down.”


Kramnik also rejected claims that he was just trying to comfort himself, saying that his attitude to wins and defeats was nowadays a rather Buddist-like indifference. “I accept responsibility only for the quality of my work, not its result”.

Asked when and where his return match against Anand will take place, he replied that it was most likely to be in Germany in September 2008, adding that sponsors and organisers are already in place, and contracts will be signed within a month. Interestingly, in answer to the question of who his next opponent would be, if he were to beat Anand and regain the title, he replied “FIDE has decided that the winner of Anand-Kramnik will play against the winner of Topalov and the World Cup victor”. Old-style Cold War Kremlin-watchers may have sought to read some significance into his exact choice of words – not “I will play…” but “FIDE have decided that …”! Could there be a “but” lurking in there somewhere? Watch this space…
"I cannot see myself playing beyond 40”.

In reply to a question about Korchnoi’s longevity in chess, Kramnik replied that he has not the same fanaticism for the game as Korchnoi, and that once he feels he can no longer compete at his former level, he is likely to drift away from chess. “I cannot see myself playing beyond the age of 40”, he said.

For the present, though, Kramnik is fully devoted to chess in a thoroughly professional way. “Chess is like body-building. If you train every day, you stay in top shape. It is the same with your brain – chess is a matter of daily training”. He admits that by character, he is something of an Epicurean, but insists that he observes a fairly careful discipline, having stopped smoking - “at least, for the time being” – and not having consumed enough alcohol to get himself drunk for a long time. Gambling is not one of his vices, he says, adding that he finds poker “…rather one-dimensional and colourless compared with chess”.
“I want my children to speak Russian and have a Russian mentality”

His French wife, Marie-Laure, has retained her own surname, rather than becoming Mrs Kramnik, but Vladimir said this was largely for professional reasons (she is well-known in journalistic circles). “When we have children, they will have my surname”, he said. He also added that he wants his children to be Russian, rather than French. “I do not yet know where we will live, in Russia, in France, or somewhere else. But I definitely want my children to speak Russian and have the Russian mentality”. He also reveals that Marie-Laure speaks excellent Russian: “Russian tourists in Paris often end up speaking with her in Russian, and are always sure she is Russian herself, although she actually has no Russian roots at all”.

“I do not have time for politics at the moment”

Finally, Kramnik revealed that he has been approached several times by Russian political parties, hoping to enlist his public support, but that he has resisted: “I do not want to get involved in party political games”. In another phrase that might interest the Kremlin-watchers, he adds “ I do not have time for politics at the moment ”. Hmmm – “at the moment”. Could it be that Kramnik’s absence from Russian politics is just a temporary thing – like his loaning of the world title to Anand….?

Courtesy- chessbase

Favorate Chess games-1

Viswanathan Anand vs Garry Kasparov

Kasparov-Anand World Championship Match 1995 · Sicilian, Scheveningen, Classical (B85) · 1-0



1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be2 e6 7.O-O
Be7 8.a4 Nc6 9.Be3 O-O 10.f4 Qc7 11.Kh1 Re8 12.Bf3 Bd7 13.Nb3
Na5 14.Nxa5 Qxa5 15.Qd3 Rad8 16.Rfd1 Bc6 17.b4 Qc7 18.b5 Bd7
19.Rab1 axb5 20.Nxb5 Bxb5 21.Qxb5 Ra8 22.c4 e5 23.Bb6 Qc8
24.fxe5 dxe5 25.a5 Bf8 26.h3 Qe6 27.Rd5 Nxd5 28.exd5 Qg6 29.c5
e4 30.Be2 Re5 31.Qd7 Rg5 32.Rg1 e3 33.d6 Rg3 34.Qxb7 Qe6
35.Kh2 1-0

Chess Puzzle - 2

White to move and mate in 2 moves


(Check the Solution Below.......)
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...

	1. Ra3
	1 ... Rb1+	2 Bxb1
	1 ... Rxb3	2 Bxb3
	1 ... Nxa2+	2 Kd2
	1 ... Rxc2+	2 Kxc2
	1 ... Rxa2	2 Bxc3
	1 ... Sd1	2 Bb1

Chess Puzzle - 1

White to Play and mate in 2 moves....




(Check for the solution below............)
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
1.NC6

1 ... Kxf7	2 g8Q
1 ... Kxd5	2 Qa2
1 ... Rdxd5	2 Re7
1 ... Rfxd5	2 Rf6
1 ... Rdxf7	2 Rd6
1 ... Rfxf7	2 Re5

State-level chess

CHENNAI: The Maharishi Vidya Mandir Senior Secondary School will conduct a State-level chess tournament at its premises in Chetpet on November 10 and 11 for boys’ and girls’ in the under-8, 10, 12, 14 and 18 categories.

Entries close on November 6 with S. Namasivayam, Principal, Maharishi Vidya Mandir.

For details, contact Sanjai Kumar, ph: 98413 42129 or Ananthan , ph: 98407 03544.

John Nunn wins World Chess Problem Solving Championship

The World Chess Problem Solving Championship took place in Rhodes, Greece, on 16th-17th October 2007. This was one of the strongest solving championships ever held; in addition to defending champion Piotr Murdzia, the former world champions Ofer Comay, Michel Caillaud, Michael Pfannkuche, Georgi Evseev, Arno Zude, Noam Elkies, Jonathan Mestel, Jorma Paavilainen, Andrey Selivanov and John Nunn were also taking part.

The world championship consists of six timed papers, each consisting of three problems or studies. The six papers cover two-movers, three-movers, studies, helpmates, moremovers (mates in more than three moves) and selfmates. Five points are awarded for each position, according to how complete the solver’s solution is, so 15 points is the maximum score for each of the six rounds.

At the end of the first day, with three rounds completed, Mestel, Comay and Murdzia had a perfect score, while Evseev had dropped half a point. Nunn was slightly further behind with 44 points out of a possible 45.

The second day’s problems are generally more testing than those on the first day, but in the first round of the day the favourites generally did well. Mestel, Comay, Evseev and Nunn all scored a maximum, but Murdzia dropped two points to fall behind.

However, the second round of the day, the moremovers, devastated the field. Evseev dropped four points and Comay a massive eight. The biggest shock was that Jonathan Mestel scored no points at all in the moremovers. Afterwards, he explained that instead of just concentrating on one problem and making sure that he got five points, he jumped from one to another and ended up not solving any of them. All solvers know that such a disaster is never far away when there is a difficult round.

TamilNadu State-level chess

CHENNAI: The Maharishi Vidya Mandir Senior Secondary School will conduct a State-level chess tournament at its premises in Chetpet on November 10 and 11 for boys’ and girls’ in the under-8, 10, 12, 14 and 18 categories.

Entries close on November 6 with S. Namasivayam, Principal, Maharishi Vidya Mandir.

For details, contact Sanjai Kumar, ph: 98413 42129 or Ananthan , ph: 98407 03544.