The Break by Vladimir Kramnik – Examples from new Paperback book

My ebook The Break - Learn From Schlechter, Botvinnik and Kramnik is now available in paperback format, so you can order a physical copy and have it delivered to you like most chess books you probably already own. Here is a sample set of exercises from the chapter about Vladimir Kramnik. Scroll down to the bottom of the page to see solutions.

Korobov, Anton - Kramnik, Vladimir
   2013.08.24   

Black's turn

---

Alexander Ipatov - Vladimir Kramnik
   2013.12.02   

Black's turn

---

Svidler, Peter - Kramnik, Vladimir
   2014.03.15   

Black's turn

---

Kramnik, Vladimir - Ulibin, Mikhail
   1992   

White's turn

 

Solutions

 

Korobov, Anton - Kramnik, Vladimir
FIDE World Cup 2013   2013.08.24   

45. ... d4!?

Although this move is speculative, Kramnik sacrifices a pawn to activate his rook and bishop. Objectively it may be not the best, but for a human player passive defense is intolerable, so that justifies his decision.

46. exd4 Re6+ 47. Kd2 Bd3 48. d5 Rd6 49. Kc1 Bg6 50. Bb4 Rxd5 51. Rxa6 Kd7 52. Rf6 Rb5 53. Bc3 Rf5 54. Rb6 Rxf4

The active rook is able to eliminate white pawns, achieving a draw now.

55. a6 Rf2 56. a7 Be4 57. Kd1 Ra2 58. Rf6 Ke8 1/2-1/2

---

Alexander Ipatov - Vladimir Kramnik
FIDE World Team Championship   2013.12.02   

29. ... e5 30. dxe5 Nxe5 31. fxe5 Qxe5

Black has only a pawn for a piece, but White's pieces are badly placed, and all of his pawns are vulnerable.

32. Nf1 Bg7 33. a3

( Defending the pawns was not really possible in the long run: 33. Kd2 Re6 34. Nb7 Bh6 35. Nc5 Bxe3+ 36. Nxe3 Qxe3+ 37. Kd1 Re5 -/+ [%eval -32767,0] Black has still more ways to improve his position with Rhe7, Qxg3 and d5-d4. )

33. ... Qxc3+ 34. Qxc3 Bxc3 35. Bd1 Re6 36. Bc2 Bg6

Both White's rooks and knights are effectively out of the game for many moves to come, so the current material balance is virtually irrelevant here.

37. Nd2 Rxe3 38. Rd1 Bf6 39. Rhh1 d4 40. Rde1 Rhe7 41. Rxe3 Rxe3

In view of inevitable material losses, White resigned. A true positional masterpiece by Kramnik!

0-1

---

Svidler, Peter - Kramnik, Vladimir
World Chess Championship Candidates   2014.03.15   

41. ... e4 42. fxe4 Qe2 43. Rf3 Rxd6 44. Qe8 f6 45. e5

45. ... f5 46. gxf5

46. ... Rf6!!

Paradoxically, this is the only move that keeps Black alive!

( After 46. ... Ra6 47. e6! the black rook would be cut off from the kingside and Black would lose: 47. ... Ra7 48. f6 +- )

47. Kg3

( 47. e6 Qe4 = )

47. ... Qe4

Now the game ends with a repetition.

48. Bc5 Qe1+ 49. Bf2 Qe4 50. Bc5 Qe1+ 51. Bf2 1/2-1/2

---

Kramnik, Vladimir - Ulibin, Mikhail
Chalkidiki   1992   

36. g5!?

White opens up the game to exploit the power of his two bishops.

36. ... hxg5 37. hxg5 Nxg5 38. Bc6 Rc8 39. Rh1

As compensation for the pawn, White's rooks are also obtaining a lot of potential - on both sides of the board.

39. ... Kg8 40. Raa1 Nce6 41. Rh4

White is threatening to double on the 'h' file, so Black has to create an escape square for his king.

41. ... f6 42. Rg1

42. ... Kf7 43. Bd5 Ke8 44. Rh8+ Nf8 45. f4 Ne6 46. Kf3 f5 47. Rg6

Black's pieces are tied up in too many ways, so White begins to pick up the fruits of his labour.

47. ... Nc5 48. Bxg7 Rf7 49. Bxf8

( 49. Bxf8 Rxf8 50. Rxf8+ Kxf8 51. Rg8+ Ke7 52. Rxc8 +- )

1-0

The Break – Learn from Schlechter, Botvinnik and Kramnik – eBook

This week I published another book that summarizes my findings from many years of analysis and studying a specific chess topic.
 
This book presents the games of three positional geniuses and focuses on pawn play and pawn breaks. In this collection you will learn to use unexpected pawn moves for:

• Opening up files or diagonals
• Directly attacking opponent's king
• Gaining space
• Freeing up a square (e.g. as an outpost for a knight)
• Undermining opponent's pawn structure/chain
• Creating a passed pawn

The Break – Learn from Schlechter, Botvinnik and Kramnik is now available in the kindle store and on Kobo.

Here is the table of contents with the links to all the games and training exercises that are analyzed in this ebook:

 
 

Is there a similarity between the styles of Kramnik and Botvinnik?

Studying the games of two all time great players, Vladimir Kramnik and Mikhail Botvinnik, I find there are quite a few similarities in their opening selection, strategic methods, and overall styles of play.

The approach of studying openings deeply and both in terms of specific variation, as well as the skill of playing for subtle positional nuances that are prepared at home was first developed by Botvinnik and today has been taken up to the “machine” level by Kramnik with his razor sharp and deep opening preparation. The similarities are likely not accidental, as Botvinnik was the teacher of Kramnik in the late 1980s, so there is a personal connection.

Has anyone else made similar comparisons between Kramnik and Botvinnik in the past? Are there other chess champions who have been called out as very similar in style?

Here are a couple of games by Botvinnik and Kramnik in the same opening - Slav Exchange:

Learn Chess Strategy from the Champion - Games by Vladimir Kramnik

Studying the games of top grandmasters is one of the best ways to improve your own game. I have put together a list of videos I made over the years, that feature Vladimir Kramnik's games - Kramnik's Selected games.

Kramnik - Aronian - the Olympic Struggle - Deadly Pin in the Slav

Kramnik - Anand - Quick Win in the Slav

Kramnik in the Sveshnikov – The Breakthrough Style

The book of Vladimir Kramnik’s  games published in Russia in the end of the 1990’s was called the “Break”, and for a while it became my constant source of aesthetic pleasure. I did not understand back then why people talk about Kramnik as a boring or even solid player, and still don’t understand it now – from following most of the tournaments where he plays. This is a player with a very dynamic sense of pawn structure and of how pawns and pieces release their power in unexpected (to the opponent) moments of the game.

Merely looking through a collection of his games in B33 ECO classifications I immediately came across several examples (I had known most of them from before, but a couple were new to me!). These games were played against the top players of the world, with good results. While regretting that Kramnik stopped playing the Sveshnikov, I do understand that one has to switch repertoire from time to time – in part to develop one’s style, but also to avoid computer preparation as lines that Kramnik makes popular – get overanalyzed to death and become difficult to play for a win.

Lutz –Kramnik, 1995
  26…e3 ripped White’s position apart before queenside pawns could promote.

Polgar – Kramnik, 1998
  With unexpected 38… a4, Black undermined White’s knight and pinned 3 White pieces along the long diagonal.

Anand – Kramnik, 1998
After 13. Qf3, Black fought for initiative by sacrificing two pawns – 14…f5! 15. exf5 d5! getting enough counter play for the material.

Shirov – Kramnik, 2000
With 20…d5!! Black was able to transfer the b8 rook to the kingside via b6, and again – obtain enough counterplay.

Leko – Kramnik, 2000
with 36… b4, Kramnik puts more pressure on White’s tangled position, although in time trouble the game ended as a draw after Black missed a win.

Karpov - Kramnik - blindfold game in Slav Defence

In this game Kramnik creates an instructive example where knights end up stronger than bishops because they manage to occupy key squares and invade White's weaknesses, especially on the light squares. White's bishops  remain passive throughout the game.

Vladimir Kramnik’s Advice on Analysing Chess Positions

As I was listening to Kramnik discussing the current positions from current Wejk An Zee Tournament on the Russian site chess-news.ru, something caught my attention. Kramnik was only using computer engine to evaluate the position and he was hiding the (dockable?) portion of the UI that shows best move for each side. I tried analysing my game in this mode, and I realized that I think much harder on the position, and I actually know I am not making any gross mistakes in my calculation. Thank you, Mr. former World Champion!

There was a time when Kramnik did not use computer to analyse a chess position …

Watching the Candidates Matches

As I am watching the World Championship Candidates matches, I am surprised to see that Vladimir Kramnik is out, despite his absolutely amazing opening preparation. In several games against Radjabov and Grischuk he seemed to have barely made any moves of his own and yet he had a very hard time against Teimur, and even a harder time against Grischuk. I suppose that proves that chess a sport still lives! Knowing most openings “down to checkmate” does not guarantee success, even when accompanied by such a skill of middlegame and endgame that Kramnik has. It does however make the games a bit harder to follow as it is very hard to tell where the game actually begins.

Alexander Grischuk is through to the finals!

Kramnik – Carlsen - annotated by Seirawan

Yasser Seirawan has annotated Magnus Carlsen’s victory over Vladimir Kramnik from the currently played Amber Chess Tournament.

Kramnik – Carlsen, 2011

Black to move. How can he fight for control over d5 to get a desired pawn structure?

Seirawan explains very nicely the positional goals of both sides as Kramnik is planning to play against the ‘d5’ outpost and wants to occupy it with a piece. It backfired as Carlsen fought to complete his development and control d5 with pieces as well. It struck me that such positional ideas that seem to be more common in Sicilian defence (for example – in Sveshnikov Variation that Kramnik himself plays) – can just as easily occur in closed openings.

Watch the video below to see it yourself:
 

Book Review - Garry Kasparov's Greatest Chess Games by Igor Stohl

My blog entries are usually driven by analyzing games, and I must have not done much of that in the last month or so, thus the shortage of posts. Recently I have mostly been following chess events, in Moscow, London and Wijk An Zee. Sergei Shipov from http://crestbook.com has been putting up amazing video reviews of each round, and I have tried to watch every one of them.

This post is mostly a quick note that Garry Kasparov's Greatest Chess Games, Volume 2  by Igor Stohl is a very good collection of games of this great player. Annotations are written in context of Kasparov’s opening repertoire and give good insight into the second part of his career, as it progressed from 1994 to 2005, including arguably his best years in 1999-2002. I studied the games that directly included the openings that I play, but I would like to do a more thorough review of all games in the book that were played in Open Sicilian, as I can foresee that getting insights of Kasparov’s understanding of these structures is beneficial beyond learning the specific variations.

I will only give a quick taste of what Kasparov’s style was like at his prime – when he was able to combine superior opening preparation with aggressive play in the middlegame. In both games, in the same line of the Sveshnikov Sicilian, Kasparov developed strong attack against opponent’s king, and when his queen was attacked, he responded with completely unexpected counter strikes (ok, in my books these moves were as unexpected as a move at a GM level ever gets!). One of the combinations was played against Kramnik, making that game even more remarkable.

Kasparov – Kramnik, 1994

  White to move. Replay the game

Kasparov-Lautier, 1994

White to move. Replay the game

 

 

Summary: I am strongly considering getting Volume 1 as well!

Kramnik – Grachev – rook endgame in a blitz game

I enjoyed watching the video while following the moves from the database in a separate window, you can do that too!

If you are curious how Grachev lost the endgame that was drawn all along, here is the culprit move/position:

Black to move.
Grachev blundered with 51… Kc8? and later the pawn advanced with a decisive tempo.
As pointed out by computer - correct was 51... Kd8! 52. Kb6 Rh2 53. Rg8+ Ke7 54. c6 Rb2+ 55. Kxa5 Rc2 56. Kb6 f3 =
When you are playing against Kramnik – any position is full of tricks!

Lutz - Kramnik, 1995

Another classical game from Kramnik in the Sveshnikov.

Replay Game

Christopher Lutz (2560) - Vladimir Kramnik (2715) [B33]

Bundesliga 9495/Germany 1995

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e5 6. Ndb5 d6 7. Bg5 a6 8. Na3 b5 9. Nd5 Be7 10. Bxf6 Bxf6 11. c3 O-O 12. Nc2 Bg5 13. a4 bxa4 14. Rxa4 a5 15. Bc4

15... Rb8 Black hopes in this position to compensate the weakness of the 'a5' pawn by putting pressure on the 'b' pawn. He also intends to play 'around' the d5 knight, by playing f5 (with g6 or not) and opening up the position for two bishops. 16. b3 Kh8 17. O-O g6 18. Qe2 The queen protects e4 pawn, and this move also allows Rf1 to come to d1 or a1. In 1998 Judit Polgar played 18. Kh1 in her game against Kramnik 18... Bd7 19. Rfa1 This ties down Nc6 to defence of the a5 pawn. The rook however leaves the kingside so if the 'f' file opens up, White may face challenges with defending f2 square. also possible is 19. Ra2 f5 20. f3 Bh6 19... Bh6 20. g3 Kramnik believes this move unnecessarily weakens the kingside. It`s hard to disagree! 20... f5 21. exf5 gxf5 22. b4 e4 This frees up the e5 square for the knight and Black's attack on the kingside starts to look real. 23. bxa5 an attempt to attack on the kingside would backfire for white: 23. Qh5 Bg7 24. Nf4 Ne5 25. b5 Nf3+ 26. Kg2 Rf6 27. Rxa5 Rh6

28. Qf7 Rxh2+ 29. Kf1 Bxc3 23... Ne5 24. Rb4 Rxb4 25. cxb4 f4 26. Nd4 after 26. Qxe4? Bf5 27. Qe2 f3 black wins a piece 26... e3 27. fxe3 27. f3 fxg3 28. hxg3 Qg5 29. Kg2 Rg8 30. g4 Nxg4 31. fxg4 Bxg4 32. Qxe3 Qh4 27... f3 28. Qa2 f2+ 29. Kg2 Qe8 30. Be2 Ng4 31. Bf3 trading off that knight did not seem very promising either. 31. Bxg4 Bxg4 threatening Qe4 32. Qc2 Qh5 33. Nf4 Bxf4 34. exf4 Qh3+ 35. Kxf2 Qxh2+ 31... Nxe3+ 32. Nxe3 Qxe3 33. Qxf2 White is up two pawns, but all his pieces are subject to attack, so the LPFO (loose pieces fall off) principle starts to apply: 33... Bh3+ 34. Kg1 Qc3 35. Re1

35... Bd2 The rook has to guard both the first rank against the queen, and the e file against Be3, so all hope is lost for White. 0-1