Homage to Kramnik

The former world champion Vladimir Kramnik recently announced his retirement from competitive chess. He is one of the greats of the modern game, winning three World Championship contests — against Garry Kasparov, Peter Leko and Veselin Topalov — and retaining the title from 2000 to 2007. This tenure puts him on a par with other champions such as José Capablanca, Tigran Petrosian and Viswanathan Anand, who all reigned for around half a decade on the supreme chess throne.

Kramnik was crowned champion when he defeated Kasparov in their match in London in 2000. The key elements in Kramnik’s success were firstly his reinvention of the Berlin Wall defence in the Ruy Lopez (1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 Nf6), which has subsequently become one of the main highways of contemporary opening theory and has also found favour with the AlphaZero software program. Secondly, Kramnik’s exclusive use of queenside openings. Kasparov did not trust his favourite King’s Indian Defence against Kramnik and was thus forced into areas where he enjoyed less expertise, as in this week’s game.

Kramnik-Kasparov: World Championship, London (Game 2) 2000; Grünfeld Defence

1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 g6 3 Nc3 d5 4 cxd5 Nxd5 5 e4 Nxc3 6 bxc3 Bg7 Kasparov has chosen the Grünfeld Defence, an opening which has performed notably badly at World Championship level. 7 Nf3 c5 8 Be3 Qa5 9 Qd2 Bg4 10 Rb1 a6 The struggle is between Black’s flank pressure and White’s dominating pawn centre. Kasparov now offers a gambit which no White player has ever previously had the courage to accept. 11 Rxb7 Bxf3 12 gxf3 Nc6 13 Bc4 0-0 14 0-0 cxd4 15 cxd4 Bxd4 16 Bd5 Bc3 Whether to exchange queens or not here is a critical decision. After 16 … Qxd2 17 Bxd2 Ne5 18 Bb4 White has good play in the endgame thanks to his bishop pair.