Vladimir Kramnik:My Path to The Top (DVD)
ChessBase.2007
http://www.chessbase.com/
Tuapse is a small town by the Black Sea in Russia.
Here a young man who has just become a proud father is looking up the names of newborn babies in the hospital. The list is arranged according to the height and weight of the infants. His joy knows no bounds when he discovers that his bonny baby tops the charts.An artist by profession, he takes his pencil and writes against the name, CHAMPION. 25 Years later when his offspring wins the world title the beaming father tells him, he always knew. But how did it happen? Vladimir Kramnik tells the story with humour and charm.
Vlad learnt chess at the age of five. There was no lack of chess culture even in that remote town of Soviet Russia But opportunities of advance were fewer. It was here that fate played its part.
Fortunately for him a local chess player watching games of Vlad became a fan of our little hero and wrote to Botvinnik.
Kramnik says, the Patriarch used to receive such letters from all corners of the USSR and he need not have paid attention to this one. But he did and responded by asking for the lad’s games. When the games were sent he subjected them to meticulous scrutiny and concluded that there was a talent here. Soon Vlad received an invitation to attend the Botvinnik School where famous disciples like Kasparov delivered lectures.
Kramnik says, for him it was nothing less than nirvana.
He also remembers with gratitude how Garry insisted on his inclusion in the USSR team for the 1992 Olympiad when he was not even a grandmaster.
He justified Garry’s trust in his talent by scoring 8.5 out of 9. Then he was just 17 years-old.
He soon became a grandmaster and describes how he was invited for Linares tournament in 1993. Now he was in big league and describes his sense of awe at the fighting spirit of the players, especially, their resilience in defence. One such moment occurred in the game with Karpov, his boyhood hero.
Anatoly who had a difficult position fought like a lion and every time when Vlad expected him to resign would find a miraculous resource and continue the fight. The game was drawn in 99 moves after a tough struggle. For Vlad the level of play in this tournament was a revelation. However, he was not overawed by his peers as he knew that he also possessed a talent and could learn and succeed. It was this self-confidence that enabled him to compete with the likes of Kasparov on level terms:
In this DVD he also reveals how he prepared for his matches with Kasparov, Leko
and Topalov.
He also describes the course of each match. How did he vanquish Garry without losing a single game?
He says, during his preparation he had noticed that Garry did not like to play endings, especially, those positions where a miniscule advantage was held by either side. This proved to be a decisive factor in quite a few Spanish games where Garry was not able to breach the Berlin Wall. Expectedly, the bitterness shows when he speaks of the Topalov match.*
Apart from Kramnik’s own talk, his previous interviews on ChessBase are also included.* This DVD was produced way back in 2007 when he was still the world champion.The match with Anand in which he lost the title was yet to come:
A disappointing feature of this DVD is that there are fewer games and only positions from critical encounters are commented on by Kramnik.*
Now should you buy this DVD? I have a suggestion. Don't. If you wish, take a provisional subscription to ChessBase Magazine (6 months) under the CBM taster scheme.You get 3 issues of CBM along with Vol.1 of Viswanathan Anand DVD.This comes free.
There is a little catch in this scheme. If you wish to get Vol.2 of Anand DVD free, you will have to subscribe to another 6 months of CBM. If you do not wish to subscribe to CBM, you may buy these DVDs separately. Do go through the notes and links carefully before you decide. In the end it's your choice.
Notes:
1)For more information on the DVD, see the following link:
http://www.chessbase-shop.com/en/products/4155
2)The ChessBase interviews as well as others can be located on Kramnik's official web site.Please see the links.
In a later interview Kramnik made an interesting obeservation on his relationship with Kasparov:
"Do you consider Garry Kasparov your friend? After all he once promoted you, and then you took his World Championship title."
"We’ve had different periods in our relationship. There was a time when I helped him in his World Championship match in 1995. And then we played a match for the title. After that, unfortunately, our relationship soured. It seems that Kasparov took that sporting defeat as a declaration of war, although it was nothing other than sport. After losing he demanded a rematch, even though he had no legal or moral right to one. After all, we’d signed a contract which he’d drawn up, saying that the loser would play in a candidates’ tournament, as rematches had long been abolished. Since then many have thought that I almost ran away from him, though that it no way corresponds to the reality. At the time he got upset and said a lot of things – he’s a quick-tempered, passionate man. But let that be on his conscience. After all, I won three World Championship matches. And less than ten chess players in history have managed to do that. I’ve achieved enough in my career, and hope there’s more to come. I’m now preparing for the tournament where I’m planning to regain the World Championship title."
3)The Informant CD released in 2007 has 843 games of which 391 are annotated by Kramnik. The material is culled from Informant issues for the period, 1988-2006. However, its format offers no prose and only variations.
4)As this review is too long, no games from the DVD are included at the moment. Essentially, they are critical positions from a few games with Kramnik's personal comments.
5)CBM issues from No.134 to 140 have been reviewed on our site so far. They may be located on the first 5 pages of the content here:
http://www.chess.com/members/view_content/chessbibliophile
Links:
1) http://www.kramnik.com/default.aspx
(Kramnik’s official site)
2)http://www.chess.co.uk/twic/jwat89.html
http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review606.pdf
(Other reviews of this DVD)
3)http://www.chessville.com/reviews/BestofChessInformantKramnik.htm
(Kramnik CD review)
4)http://www.whychess.org/en/node/1605
(Kramnik’s interview, 31st August, 2011)